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THE WITCHCRAFT 

DELUSION IN COLONIAL 

CONNECTICUT 

1647-1697 



BY 

JOHN M. TAYLOR 

Author of " Maximilian and Carlotta, a Story of Imperialism," and 
" Roger Ludlow, the Colonial Lawmaker " 




THE GRAFTON PRESS 

PUBLISHERS NEW YORK 



C3 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Keceitei, 

MAY 25 1908 









Copyright, 1908 
By THE GRAFTON PRESS 



</±'3 



¥f 



"Connecticut can well afford to 
let her records go to the world." 

Blue Laws: True and False (p. 47). 
J. Hammond Trumbull. 



FOREWORD 

THE true story of witchcraft in old Connecticut has 
never been told. It has been hidden in the ancient 
records and in manuscripts in private collections, and 
those most conversant with the facts have not made them 
known, for one reason or another. It is herein written 
from authoritative sources, and should prove of interest 
and value as a present-day interpretation of that strange 
delusion, which for a half century darkened the lives of 
the forefathers and foremothers of the colonial days. 

J. M. T. 
Hartford, Connecticut. 



TWO INDICTMENTS FOR WITCHCRAFT 

"John Carrington thou art indited by the name of John 
Carrington of Wethersfield — carpenter — , that not hauing the 
feare of God before thine eyes thou hast interteined ffamilliarity 
with Sattan the great enemye of God and mankinde and by his 
helpe hast done workes aboue the course of nature for wch both 
according to the lawe of God and the established lawe of this 
Commonwealth thou deseruest to dye." 

Record Particular Court, 2:17, 1650-51. 

"Hugh Crotia, Thou Standest here presented by the name 
of Hugh Crotia of Stratford in the Colony of Connecticut in 
New England; for that not haueing the fear of God before thine 
Eyes, through the Instigation of the Devill, thou hast forsaken 
thy God & covenanted with the Devill, and by his help hast in 
a preternaturall way afflicted the bodys of Sundry of his Maj- 
esties good Subjects, for which according to the Law of God, 
and the Law of this Colony, thou deseruest to dye." 

Record Court of Assistants, 2:16, 1693. 



A WARRANT FOR THE EXECUTION OF A WITCH* AND 
THE SHERIFF'S RETURN THEREON 

To George Corwin Gentlm high Sheriff of the County of Essex Greeting 

Whereas Bridgett Bishop als Olliver the wife of Edward Bishop of 

Salem in the County of Essex Sawyer at a special Court of Oyer and 

Terminer (held at ?) t Salem this second Day of this instant 

month of June for the Countyes of Essex Middlesex and Suffolk before 
William Stoughton Esqe. and his Associates Justices of the said Court 
was Indicted and arraigned upon five several Indictments for useing 

practising & exercising on the t last past and divers others days 

t witchcraft in and upon the bodyes of Abigail Williams Ann 

puttnam Jr Mercy Lewis Mary Walcott and Elizabeth Hubbard of 
Salem Village single women; whereby their bodyes were hurt afflicted 
pined consumed wasted & tormented contrary to the forme of the statute 
in that case made and provided To which Indictmts the said Bridgett 
Bishop pleaded not guilty and for Tryall thereof put herselfe upon God 

and her Country t she was found guilty of the ffelonyes and 

Witchcrafts whereof she stood Indicted and sentence of death accord- 
ingly passed agt her as the Law directs execution whereof yet remaines 
to be done These are therefore in the name of their Majties William 
& Mary now King & Queen over England & to will and command you 
that upon Fryday next being the fourth day of this instant month of 
June between the hours of Eight and twelve in the aforenoon of the 
same day you safely conduct the sd Bridgett Bishop als Olliver from 
their Majties Goale in Salem aforesd to the place of execution and there 
cause her to be hanged by the neck until she be dead and of your doings 
herein make returne to the Clerk of the sd Court and precept And hereof 
you are not to faile at your peril And this shall be sufficient warrant 
Given under my hand & seal at Boston the Eighth of June in the ffourth 
year of the reigne of our Sovereigne Lords William & Mary now King 
& Queen over England Annoque Dm 1692 

Wm. Stoughton 

* Original in office of Clerk of the Courts at Salem, Massachusetts. 
Said to be the only one extant in American archives. 
t Some of the words in the warrant are illegible. 



x The Witchcraft Delusion 

June 16 1692 

According to the within written precept I have taken the Bodye of 
the within named Bridgett Bishop out of their Majties Goale in Salem 
& Safely Conueighd her to the place provided for her Execution & 
Caused ye sd Bridgett to be hanged by the neck till Shee was dead all 
which was according to the time within Required & So I make returne 
by me 

George Cobwin 

Sheriff 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 

Perkins' definition — Burr's "Servants of Satan" — The 
monkish idea — The ancientness of witchcraft — Its 
universality — Its regulation — What it was — Its old- 
est record — The Babylonian Stele — Its discovery — 
King Hammurabi's Code, 2250 b. c. — Its character 
and importance — Hebraic resemblances — Its witch- 
craft law — The test of guilt — The water test. 1—5 

CHAPTER II 

Opinions of Blackstone and Lecky — Witchcraft no- 
menclature — Its earlier and later phases — Common 
superstitions — Monna Sidonia's invocation — Ice- 
land's Sea Song — Witchcraft's diverse literature — 
Its untold history — The modern Satanic idea — 
Exploitation by the Inquisitors — The chief authori- 
ties — The witch belief — Its recognition in drama 
and romance — The Weird Sisters — Other characters. 6-14 

CHAPTER III 

Fundamentals — The scriptural citations — Old and 
New Testament — Josephus — Ancient and modern 
witchcraft — The distinction — The arch enemy Satan 
— Action of the Church — The later definition — The 



xii Contents 

New England indictments — Satan's recognition — 
Persecutions in Italy, Germany and France — Slow 
spread to England — Statute of Henry VIII — Cran- 
mer's injunction — Jewell's sermon — Statute James I 
— His Demonologie — Executions in Eastern Eng- 
land — Witch finder Hopkins — Howell's statement 
— John Lowes — Witchcraft in Scotland — Commis- 
sions — Instruments of torture — Forbes' definition — 
Colonial beliefs 15-22 

CHAPTER IV 

Fiske's view — The forefathers' belief — Massachu- 
setts, Connecticut and New Haven laws — Sporadic 
cases — The Salem tragedy — Statements of Haw- 
thorne, Fiske, Lowell, Latimer — The victims — 
Upham's picture — The trial court — Se wall's confes- 
sion — Cotton Mather — Calef and Upham — Poole — 
Mather's rules — Ministerial counsel — Longfellow's 
opinion — Mather's responsibility — His own evi- 
dence — Conspectus 23-34 

CHAPTER V 

The Epidemic in Connecticut — Palfrey — Trumbulls — 
Winthrop's Journal — Treatment of witchcraft — Si- 
lence and evasion — The true story — How told — 
Witnesses — Testimony — All classes affected — The 
courts — Judges and jurors — The best evidence — The 
record — Grounds for examination of a witch — 
Jones' summary — Witch marks — What they were — 
How discovered — Dalton's Country Justice — The 
searchers — Searchers' report in Disborough and 
Clawson cases 35-44 



Contents xiii 

CHAPTER VI 

Hamersley's and Morgan's comment — John Allyn's 
letter — The accusation — Its origin — Its victims — 
Many witnesses — Record evidence — The witnesses 
themselves — Memorials of their delusion — Notable 
depositions — Selected testimonies, and cases — Kath- 
erine Harrison — The court — The judge — The in- 
dictment — Grand jury's oath — Credulity of the 
court — Testimony — Its unique character — Bracy — 
Dickinson — Montague — Graves — Francis — John- 
son — Hale — Smith — Verdict and sentence — Court's 
appeal to the ministers — Their answer — A remark- 
able document — Katherine's petition — "A Com- 
plaint of severall grieuances" — Katherine's re- 
prieve — Dismissal from imprisonment — Removal . 45-61 

CHAPTER VII 

Mercy Disborough — Cases at Fairfield, 1692 — The 
special court — The indictment — Testimonies — Jesop 
— Barlow — Dunning — Halliberch — Benit — Grey — 
Godfree — Search for witch marks — Ordeal by water 
— Cateran Branch's accusation — Jury disagree — 
Later verdict of guilty — The governor's sentence — 
Reference to General Court — Afterthought — John 
Hale's conclusion — Courts call on the ministers — 
Their answer — General advice — Reasons for re- 
prieve^ — Notable papers — Eliot and Woodbridge — 
Willis— Pitkin— Stanly— The pardon . . . 62-78 

CHAPTER VIII 

Hawthorne — Latimer — Additional cases — Curious and 
vulgar testimony — All illustrative of opinion — Make 
it understandable — Elizabeth Seager — Witnesses — 



xiv Contents 

What they swore to — Garretts — Sterne — Hart — 
Willard — Pratt — Migat — " Staggerings " of the jury 
— Contradictions — Verdict — Elizabeth Godman — 
Governor Goody ear's dilemma — Strange doings — 
Ball's information — Imprisonment — Discharge — 
Nathaniel and Rebecca Greensmith — Character, 
Accusation — Rebecca's confession — Conviction — 
Double execution at Hartford .... 79-100 

CHAPTER IX 

Elizabeth Clawson — The indictment — Witnesses— 
* ' Kateran ' ' Branch — Garney — Kecham — Abigail 
and Nathaniel Cross — Bates — Sargent Wescot and 
Abigail — Finch — Bishop — Holly — Penoir — Slawson 
— Kateran's Antics — Acquittal. Hugh Crotia — 
The court — Grand jury — Indictment — Testimony 
— Confession — Acquittal — Gaol deli very — Elizabeth 
Garlick — A sick woman's fancies — "A black thing 
at the bed's featte" — Burning herbs — The sick child 
— The ox' broken leg — The dead ram and sow — 
The Tale burning 101-121 

CHAPTER X 

Goodwife Knapp — Her character — A notable case — 
Imprisonment — Harsh treatment — The inquisitors 
— Their urgency — Knapp's appeal — The post- 
mortem desecration — Prominent people involved — 
Davenport and Ludlow — Staplies vs. Ludlow — The 
court — Confidential gossip — Cause of the suit — 
Testimony — Davenport — Sherwood — Tomson — 
Gould— Ward— Pell— Brewster— Lockwood— Hull— 
Brundish — Whitlock — Barlow — Lyon — Mistress 
Staplies — Her doings aforetime — Tashs' night ride 



Contents xv 

— "A light woman" — Her character — Reparation 
suit — Her later indictment — Power of the delusion 
— Pertinent inquiry 122-141 

CHAPTER XI 

Present opinions — J. Hammond Trumbull — Annie 
Eliot Trumbull — Review — Authenticity — Record 
evidence — Controversialists — Actual cases — Suspi- 
cions — Accusations — Acquittals — Flights — Execu- 
tions — First complete roll — Changes in belief — Con- 
trast — Edwards — Carter — " The Rogerenes " — Con- 
clusion — Hathorne — Mather . 142-160 



THE WITCHCRAFT DELUSION 
IN COLONIAL CONNECTICUT 



THE WITCHCRAFT DELUSION 
IN COLONIAL CONNECTICUT 

CHAPTER I 



"Firft, becaufe Witchcraft is a rife and common finne in these our 
daies, and very many are intangled with it, beeing either practitioners 
thereof in their owne perfons, or at the leaft, yielding to feeke for helpe 
and counfell of fuch as practife it." A Discourse of the Damned Art of 
Witchcraft, Perkins, 1610. 

"And just as God has his human servants, his church on earth, so 
also the Devil has his — men and women sworn to his service and true 
to his bidding. To win such followers he can appear to men in any 
form he pleases, can deceive them, enter into compact with them, initiate 
them into his worship, make them his allies for the ruin of their fellows. 
Now it is these human allies and servants of Satan, thus postulated into 
existence by the brain of a monkish logician, whom history knows as 
witches." The Literature of Witchcraft, Burr. 

WITCHCRAFT in its generic sense is as old as hu- 
man history. It has written its name in the oldest 
of human records. In all ages and among all peoples it 
has taken firm hold on the fears, convictions and con- 
sciences of men. Anchored in credulity and superstition, 
in the dread and love of mystery, in the hard and fast 
theologic doctrines and teachings of diabolism, and under 
the ban of the law from its beginning, it has borne a 
baleful fruitage in the lives of the learned and the un- 
learned, the wise and the simple. 

King and prophet, prelate and priest, jurist and law- 
maker, prince and peasant, scholars and men of affairs 



2 The Witchcraft Delusion 

have felt and dreaded its subtle power, and sought relief 
in code and commandment, bull and anathema, decree 
and statute — entailing even the penalty of death — and 
all in vain until in the march of the races to a higher 
civilization, the centuries enthroned faith in the place of 
fear, wisdom in the place of ignorance, and sanity in the 
seat of delusion. 

In its earlier historic conception witchcraft and its 
demonstrations centered in the claim of power to produce 
certain effects, "things beyond the course of nature," 
from supernatural causes, and under this general term 
all its occult manifestations were classified with magic 
and sorcery, until the time came when the Devil was 
identified and acknowledged both in church and state as 
the originator and sponsor of the mystery, sin and crime 
— the sole father of the Satanic compacts with men and 
women, and the law both canonical and civil took cog- 
nizance of his malevolent activities. 

In the Acropolis mound at Susa in ancient Elam, in 
the winter of 1901-2, there was brought to light by the 
French expedition in charge of the eminent savant, M. de 
Morgan, one of the most remarkable memorials of early 
civilization ever recovered from the buried cities of the 
Orient. 

It is a monolith — a stele of black diorite — bearing in 
bas-relief a likeness of Hammurabi (the Amrephel of the 
Old Testament; Genesis xiv, 1), and the sixth king of the 
first Babylonian dynasty, who reigned about 2250 b. c; 
and there is also carved upon it, in archaic script in black 
letter cuneiform — used long after the cursive writing was 
invented — the longest Babylonian record discovered to 



In Colonial Connecticut 3 

this day, — the oldest body of laws in existence and the 
basis of historical jurisprudence. 

It is a remarkable code, quickly made available through 
translation and transliteration by the Assyrian scholars, 
and justly named, from its royal compiler, Hammurabi's 
code. He was an imperialist in purpose and action, and 
in the last of his reign of fifty-five years he annexed or 
assimilated the suzerainty of Elam, or Southern Persia, 
with Assyria to the north, and also Syria and Palestine, 
to the Mediterranean Sea. 

This record in stone originally contained nineteen 
columns of inscriptions of four thousand three hundred 
and fourteen lines, arranged in two hundred and eighty 
sections, covering about two hundred separate decisions 
or edicts. There is substantial evidence that many of 
the laws were of greater antiquity than the code itself, 
which is a thousand years older than the Mosaic code, 
, and there are many striking resemblances and parallels 
between its provisions, and the law of the covenant, and 
the deuteronomy laws of the Hebrews. 

The code was based on personal responsibility. It pro- 
tects the sanctity of an oath before God, provides among 
many other things for written evidence in legal matters, 
and is wonderfully comprehensive and rich in rules for 
the conduct of commercial, civic, financial, social, eco- 
nomic, and domestic affairs. 

These sections are notably illustrative: 

"If a man, in a case (pending judgment), utters threats 
against the witnesses (or), does not establish the testimony 
that he has given, if that case be a case involving life, that 
man shall be put to death. 



4 The Witchcraft Delusion 

" If a judge pronounces a judgment, renders a decision, 
delivers a verdict duly signed and sealed and afterwards 
alters his judgment, they shall call that judge to account 
for the alteration of the judgment which he had pro- 
nounced, and he shall pay twelvefold the penalty which 
was in the said judgment, and, in the assembly, they shall 
expel him from his seat of judgment, and he shall not re- 
turn, and with the judges in a case he shall not take his 
seat. 

"If a man practices brigandage and is captured, that 
man shall be put to death. 

"If a woman hates her husband, and says: 'thou shalt 
not have me,' they shall inquire into her antecedents for 
her defects; and if she has been a careful mistress and is 
without reproach and her husband has been going about 
and greatly belittling her, that woman has no blame. 
She shall receive her presents and shall go to her father's 
house. 

"If she has not been a careful mistress, has gadded 
about, has neglected her house and has belittled her hus- 
band, they shall throw that woman into the water. 

" If a physician operates on a man for a severe wound 
with a bronze lancet and causes the man's death, or opens 
an abscess (in the eye) of a man with a bronze lancet and 
destroys the man's eye, they shall cut off his fingers. 

"If a builder builds a house for a man and does not 
make its construction firm and the house, which he has 
built, collapses and causes the death of the owner of the 
house, that builder shall be put to death." 

It is, however, with only one of King Hammurabi's 
wise laws that this inquiry has to do, and it is this : 



In Colonial Connecticut 5 

u If a man has placed an enchantment upon a man, and 
has not justified himself, he upon whom the enchantment 
is placed to the Holy River (Euphrates) shall go; into the 
Holy River he shall plunge. If the Holy River holds 
(drowns) him he who enchanted him shall take his house. 
If on the contrary, the man is safe and thus is innocent, 
the wizard loses his life, and his house." 

Or, as another translation has it: 

"If a man ban a man and cast a spell on him — if he 
cannot justify it he who has banned shall be killed." 

" If a man has cast a spell on a man and has not justi- 
fied it, he on whom the spell has been thrown shall go to 
the River God, and plunge into the river. If the River 
God takes him he who has banned him shall be saved. 
If the River God show him to be innocent, and he be saved, 
he who banned him shall be killed, and he who plunged 
into the river shall take the house of him who banned 
him." 

There can be no more convincing evidence of the 
presence and power of the great witchcraft superstition 
among the primitive races than this earliest law; and it is 
to be especially noted that it prescribes one of the very 
tests of guilt — the proof by water — which was used in 
another form centuries later, on the continent, in England 
and New England, at Wurzburg and Bonn, at Rouen, 
in Suffolk, Essex and Devon, and at Salem and Hartford 
and Fairfield, when " the Devil starteth himself up in the 
pulpit, like a meikle black man, and calling the row (roll) 
everyone answered, Here!" 



CHAPTER II 

"To deny the possibility, nay actual evidence of witchcraft and sor- 
cery, is at once to flatly contradict the revealed word of God in various 
passages both of the Old and New Testaments." Blackstone's Commen- 
taries (Vol. 4, ch. 4, p. 60). 

" It was simply the natural result of Puritanical teaching acting on the 
mind, predisposing men to see Satanic influence in life, and consequently 
eliciting the phenomena of witchcraft." Lecky's Rationalism in Europe 
(Vol. I, p. 123). 

WITCHCRAFT'S reign in many lands and among 
many peoples is also attested in its remarkable 
nomenclature. Consider its range in ancient, medieval 
and modern thought as shown in some of its defini- 
tions: Magic, sorcery, soothsaying, necromancy, astrology, 
wizardry, mysticism, occultism, and conjuring, of the 
early and middle ages; compacts with Satan, consorting 
with evil spirits, and familiarity with the Devil, of later 
times; all at last ripening into an epidemic demonopathy 
with its countless victims of fanaticism and error, malev- 
olence and terror, of persecution and ruthless sacrifices. 

It is still most potent in its evil, grotesque, and barbaric 
forms, in Fetichism, Voodooism, Bundooism, Obeahism, 
and Kahunaism, in the devil and animal ghost worship 
of the black races, completely exemplified in the arts of 
the Fetich wizard on the Congo; in the "Uchawi" of the 
Wasequhha mentioned by Stanley; in the marriage cus- 
toms of the Soudan devil worshipers; in the practices of 



v 



In Colonial Connecticut 7 

the Obeah men and women in the Caribbees — notably 
their power in matters of love and business, religion and 
war — in Jamaica; in the incantations of the kahuna in 
Hawaii; and in the devices of the voodoo or conjure doc- 
tor in the southern states; in the fiendish rites and cere- 
monies of the red men, — the Hoch-e-ayum of the Plains 
Indians, the medicine dances of the Cheyennes and Arapa- 
hoes, the fire dance of the Navajos, the snake dance of the 
Moquis, the sun dance of the Sioux, in the myths and 
tales of the Cherokees; and it rings in many tribal chants 
and songs of the East and West. 

It lives as well, and thrives luxuriantly, ripe for the full 
vintage, in the minds of many people to whom this or 
that trivial incident or accident of life is an omen of good 
or evil fortune with a mysterious parentage. Its roots 
strike deep in that strange element in human nature which 
dreads whatsoever is weird and uncanny in common ex- 
periences, and sees strange portents and dire chimeras 
in all that is unexplainable to the senses. It is made most 
virile in the desire for knowledge of the invisible and in- 
tangible, that must ever elude the keenest inquiry, a phase 
of thought always to be reckoned with when imagination 
runs riot, and potent in its effect, though evanescent as a 
vision the brain sometimes retains of a dream, and as 
senseless in the cold light of reason as Monna Sidonia's 
invocation at the Witches' Sabbath : (Romance of Leonardo 
da Vinci, p. 97, Merejkowski.) 

" Emen Hetan, Emen Hetan, Palu, Baalberi, 
Astaroth help us Agora, Agora, Patrisa, 
Come and help us." 



8 The Witchcraft Delusion 

" Garr-r: Garr-r, up: Don't knock 
Your head : We fly : We fly : " 

And who may count himself altogether free from the 
subtle power of the old mystery with its fantastic image- 
ries, when the spirit of unrest is abroad? Who is not 
moved by it in the awesome stillness of night on the plains, 
or in the silence of the mountains or of the somber forest 
aisles; in wild winter nights when old tales are told; in fire- 
side visions as tender memories come and go ? And who, 
when listening to the echoes of the chambers of the rest- 
less sea when deep calleth unto deep, does not hear amid 
them some weird and haunting refrain like Leland's sea 
song? 

" I saw three witches as the wind blew cold 

In a red light to the lee; 

Bold they were and overbold 

As they sailed over the sea; 

Calling for One Two Three; 

Calling for One Two Three; 

And I think I can hear 

It a ringing in my ear, 

A-calling for the One, Two, Three." 

Above all, in its literature does witchcraft exhibit the 
conclusive proof of its age, its hydra-headed forms, and 
its influence in the intellectual and spiritual development 
of the races of men. 

What of this literature ? Count in it all the works that 
treat of the subject in its many phases, and its correlatives, 
and it is limitless, a literature of all times and all lands. 

Christian and pagan gave it place in their religions, 



In Colonial Connecticut 9 

dogmas, and articles of faith and discipline, and in their 
codes of law; and for four hundred years, from the appeal 
of Pope John XXII, in 1320, to extirpate the Devil- 
worshipers, to the repeal of the statute of James I in 1715, 
the delusion gave point and force to treatises, sermons, 
romances, and folk-lore, and invited, nay, compelled, recog- 
nition at the hands of the scientist and legist, the his- 
torian, the poet and the dramatist, the theologian and 
philosopher. 

But the monographic literature of witchcraft, as it is 
here considered, is limited, in the opinion of a scholar 
versed in its lore, to fifteen hundred titles. There is a mass 
of unpublished materials in libraries and archives at home 
and abroad, and of information as to witchcraft and the 
witch trials, accessible in court records, depositions, and 
current accounts in public and private collections, all 
awaiting the coming of some master hand to transform 
them into an exhaustive history of the most grievous of 
human superstitions. 

To this day, there has been no thorough investigation 
or complete analysis of the history of the witch persecu- 
tions. The true story has been distorted by partisanship 
and ignorance, and left to exploitation by the romancer, 
the empiric, and the sciolist. 

u Of the origin and nature of the delusion we know per- 
haps enough; but of the causes and paths of its spread, of 
the extent of its ravages, of its exact bearing upon the in- 
tellectual and religious freedom of its times, of the soul- 
stirring details of the costly struggle by which it was over- 
borne we are lamentably ill informed." {The Literature of 
Witchcraft, p. 66, Burr.) 



A 



10 The Witchcraft Delusion 

It must serve in this brief narrative to merely note, 
within the centuries which marked the climax of the mania, 
some of the most authoritative and influential works in 
giving strength to its evil purpose and the modes of ac- 
cusation, trial, and punishment. 

Modern scholarship holds that witchcraft, with the 
Devil as the arch enemy of mankind for its cornerstone, 
was first exploited by the Dominicans of the Inquisition. 
They blazed the tortuous way for the scholastic theology 
which in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries gave 
new recognition to Satan and his satellites as the sworn 
enemies of God and his church, and the Holy In- 
quisition with its massive enginery, open and secret, 
turned its attention to the exposure and extirpation of 
the heretics and sinners who were enlisted in the Devil's 
service. 

Take for adequate illustration these standard authori- 
ties in the early periods of the widespread and virulent 
epidemic : 

Those of the Inquisitor General, Eymeric, in 1359, en- 
titled Tractatus contra dcemonum; the Formicarius or Ant 
Hill of the German Dominican Nider, 1337; the De cal- 
catione dcemonum, 1452; the Flagellum hceretieorum jasci- 
nariorum of the French Inquisitor Jaquier in 1458; and 
the Fortalitium fidei of the Spanish Franciscan Alonso de 
Spina, in 1459; the famous and infamous manual of argu- 
ments and rules of procedure for the detection and punish- 
ment of witches, compiled by the German Inquisitors 
Kramer and Sprenger (Institor) in 1489, buttressed on 
the bull of Pope Innocent VIII; (this was the celebrated 
Witch Hammer, bearing on its title page the significant 



In Colonial Connecticut 11 

legend, " Not to believe in witchcraft is the greatest of here- 
sies ") ; the Canon Episcopi; the bulls of Popes John XXII, 
1330, Innocent VIII, 1484, Alexander VI, 1494, Leo X, 
1521, and Adrian VI, 1522; the Decretals of the canon 
law; the exorcisms of the Roman and Greek churches, 
all hinged on scriptural precedents; the Roman law, the 
Twelve Tables, and the Justinian Code, the last three 
imposing upon the crimes of conjuring, exorcising, magi- 
cal arts, offering sacrifices to the injury of one's neighbors, 
sorcery, and witchcraft, the penalties of death by torture, 
fire, or crucifixion. 

Add to these classics some of the later authorities: the 
Dcemonologie of the royal inquisitor James I of England 
and Scotland, 1597; Mores' Antidote to Atheism; Fuller's 
Holy and Profane State; Granvil's Sadducismus Trium- 
phatus, 1681; Tryal of Witches at the Assizes for the 
County of Suffolk before Sir Matthew Hale, March, 1661+ 
(London, 1682) ; Baxter's Certainty of the World of Spirits, 
1691; Cotton Mather's A Discourse on Witchcraft, 1689, 
his Late Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcrafts 
and Possessions, 1684, and his Wonders of the Invisible 
World, 1692; and enough references have been made to 
this literature of delusion, to the precedents that seared 
the consciences of courts and juries in their sentences of 
men, women, and children to death by the rack, the wheel, 
the stake, and the gallows. 

Where in history are the horrors of the curse more 
graphically told than in the words of Canon Linden, an 
eye witness of the demonic deeds at Trier (Treves) in 
1589? 

u And so, from court to court throughout the towns and 



v 



12 The Witchcraft Delusion 

villages of all the diocese, scurried special accusers, in- 
quisitors, notaries, jurors, judges, constables, dragging 
to trial and torture human beings of both sexes and burn- 
ing them in great numbers. Scarcely any of those who 
were accused escaped punishment. Nor were there spared 
even the leading men in the city of Trier. For the Judge, 
with two Burgomasters, several Councilors and Associate 
Judges, canons of sundry collegiate churches, parish- 
priests, rural deans, were swept away in this ruin. So far, 
at length, did the madness of the furious populace and of 
the courts go in this thirst for blood and booty that there 
was scarcely anybody who was not smirched by some sus- 
picion of this crime. 

" Meanwhile notaries, copyists, and innkeepers grew 
rich. The executioner rode a blooded horse, like a noble 
of the court, and went clad in gold and silver; his wife 
vied with noble dames in the richness of her array. The 
children of those convicted and punished were sent into 
exile; their goods were confiscated; plowman and vintner 
failed." (The Witch Persecutions, pp. 13-14, Burr.) 

Fanaticism did not rule and ruin without hindrance and 
remonstrance. Men of great learning and exalted posi- 
tion struck mighty blows at the root of the evil. They 
could not turn the tide but they stemmed it, and their at- 
tacks upon the whole theory of Satanic power and the 
methods of persecution were potent in the reaction to 
humanity and a reign of reason. 

Always to be remembered among these men of power 
are Johann Wier, Friedrich Spee, and notably Reginald 
Scot, who in his Discovery of Witchcraft, in 1584, under- 
took to prove that " the contracts and compacts of witches 



In Colonial Connecticut IS 

"with devils and all infernal spirits and familiars, are but 
erroneous novelties and erroneous conceptions." 

" After all it is setting a high value on our conjectures to 
roast a man alive on account of them." (Montaigne.) 

Who may measure in romance and the drama the 
presence, the cogent and undeniable power of those same 
abiding elements of mysticism and mystery, which under- 
lie all human experience, and repeated in myriad forms 
find their classic expression in the queries of the " Weird 
Sisters," * those elemental avengers without sex or kin " ? 

"When shall we three meet again, 
In thunder, lightning or in rain? 
When the hurly burly's done, 
When the battle's lost and won." 

Are not the mummeries of the witches about the caul- 
dron in Macbeth, and Talbot's threat pour la Pucelle, 

" Blood will I draw on thee, thou art a witch," 

uttered so long ago, echoed in the wailing cry of La Mef- 
fraye in the forests of Machecoul, in the maledictions of 
Grio, and of the Saga of the Burning Fields ? 

Their vitality is also clearly shown in their constant use 
and exemplification by the romance and novel writers 
who appeal with certainty and success to the popular 
taste in the tales of spectral terrors. Witness: Far- 
jeon's The Turn of the Screw; Bierce's The Damned 
Thing; Bulwer's A Strange Story; Cranford's Witch of 
Prague; Howells' The Shadow of a Dream; Winthrop's 
Cecil Dreeme; Grusot's Night Side of Nature; Crockett's 



14 The Witchcraft Delusion 

Black Douglas; and The Red Axe, Francis' Lychgate Hall; 
Caine's The Shadow of a Crime; and countless other 
stories, traditions, tales, and legends, written and un- 
written, that invite and receive a gracious hospitality on 
every hand. 



CHAPTER in 

"A belief in witchcraft had always existed; it was entertained by Coke, 
Bacon, Hale and even Blackstone. It was a misdemeanor at English 
common law and made a felony without benefit of clergy by 33 Henry 
VIII, c. 8, and 5 Eliz., c. 16, and the more severe statute of I Jas. 1, 
ch. 12." Connecticut — Origin of her Courts and Laws (N. E. States, 
Vol I, p. 487-488), Hamersley. 

"Selden took up a somewhat peculiar and characteristic position. He 
maintained that the law condemning women to death for witchcraft was 
perfectly just, but that it was quite unnecessary to ascertain whether 
witchcraft was a possibility. A woman might not be able to destroy the 
life of her neighbor by her incantations; but if she intended to do so, it 
was right that she should be hung." Rationalism in Europe (Vol. 1, 
p. 123) Lecky. 

THE fundamental authority for legislation, for the de- 
crees of courts and councils as to witchcraft, from the 
days of the Witch of Endor to those of Mercy Disborough 
of Fairfield, and Giles Corey of Salem Farms, was the 
code of the Hebrews and its recognition in the Gospel 
dispensations. Thereon rest most of the historic prece- 
dents, legislative, ecclesiastical, and judicial. 

"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." Exodus xxii, 
18. 

What law embalmed in ancientry and honored as of 
divine origin has been more fruitful of sacrifice and suf- 
fering? Through the Scriptures, gathering potency as 
it goes, runs the same grim decree, with widening def- 
initions. 



/ 



16 The Witchcraft Delusion 

" And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar 
spirits and after wizards ... I will even set my face 
against that soul and will cut him off from among his 
people." Deuteronomy xviii, 10-11. 

"There shall not be found among you any one that 
maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, 
or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an en- 
chanter, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, 
or a necromancer." Deuteronomy xviii, 10-11. 

" Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and 
the wizards out of the land." Samuel i, 3. 

"Now Saul the king of the Hebrews, had cast out of 
the country the fortune tellers, and the necromancers, 
and all such as exercised the like arts, excepting the 
prophets. . . . Yet did he bid his servants to in- 
quire out for him some woman that was a necromancer, 
and called up the souls of the dead, that so he might know 
whether his affairs would succeed to his mind; for this sort 
of necromantic women that bring up the souls of the dead, 
do by them foretell future events." Josephus, Book 6, 
ch. 14. 

"For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft." Samuel i, 
15-23. 

"And I will cut off witchcraft out of the land." Mi- 
cah v, 12. 

"Many of them also which used curious arts brought 
their books together and burned them." Acts xix, 
19. 

" But there was a certain man called Simon which be- 
foretime in the same city used sorcery and bewitched the 
people of Samaria." Acts viii, 9. 



In Colonial Connecticut 17 

" If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, 
and is withered, and men gather them and cast them into 
the fire, and they are burned." * John xv, 6. 

These citations make clear the scriptural recognition of 
witchcraft as a heinous sin and crime. It is, however, 
necessary to draw a broad line of demarcation between the 
ancient forms and manifestations which have been brought 
into view for an illustrative purpose, and that delusion or 
mania which centered in the theologic belief and teaching 
that Satan was the arch enemy of mankind, and clothed 
with such power over the souls of men as to make com- 
pacts with them, and to hold supremacy over them in the 
warfare between good and evil. 

The church from its earliest history looked upon witch- 
craft as a deadly sin, and disbelief in it as a heresy, and 
set its machinery in motion for its extirpation. Its au- 
thority was the word of God and the civil law, and it 
claimed jurisdiction through the ecclesiastical courts, the 
secular courts, however, acting as the executive of their 
decrees and sentences. 

Such was the cardinal principle which governed in the 
merciless attempts to suppress the epidemic in spreading 
from the continent to England and Scotland, and at last 
to the Puritan colonies in America, where the last chapter 
of its history was written. 

There can be no better, no more comprehensive modern 
definition of the crime once a heresy, or of the popular con- 
ception of it, than the one set forth in the New England 
indictments, to wit: " interteining familiarity with Satan the 

* In the opinion of the eminent Italian jurist Bartolo, witches were 
burned alive in early times on this authority. 



18 The Witchcraft Delusion 

enemy of mankind, and by his help doing works above the 
course of nature." 

In few words Henry Charles Lea, in his History of the 
Inquisition in the Middle Ages, analyzes the development 
of the Satanic doctrine from a superstition into its accep- 
tance as a dogma of Christian belief. 

"As Satan's principal object in his warfare with God 
was to seduce human souls from their divine allegiance, he 
was ever ready with whatever temptation seemed most 
likely to effect his purpose. Some were to be won by 
physical indulgence; others by conferring on them powers 
enabling them apparently to forecast the future, to dis- 
cover hidden things, to gratify enmity, and to acquire 
wealth, whether through forbidden arts or by the services 
of a familiar demon subject to their orders. As the neo- 
phyte in receiving baptism renounced the devil, his pomps 
and his angels, it was necessary for the Christian who de- 
sired the aid of Satan to renounce God. Moreover, as 
Satan when he tempted Christ offered him the kingdoms of 
the earth in return for adoration — ' If thou therefore wilt 
worship me all shall be thine' (Luke iv, 7) — there nat- 
urally arose the idea that to obtain this aid it was nec- 
essary to render allegiance to the prince of hell. Thence 
came the idea, so fruitful in the development of sorcery, 
of compacts with Satan by which sorcerers became his 
slaves, binding themselves to do all the evil they could to 
follow their example. Thus the sorcerer or witch was an 
enemy of all the human race as well as of God, the most 
efficient agent of hell in its sempiternal conflict with 
heaven. His destruction, by any method, was therefore 
the plainest duty of man. 



In Colonial Connecticut 19 

" This was the perfected theory of sorcery and witchcraft 
by which the gentle superstitions inherited and adopted 
from all sides were fitted into the Christian dispensation 
and formed part of its accepted creed." (History of In- 
quisition in the Middle Ages, 3, 385, Lea.) 

Once the widespread superstition became adapted to 
the forms of religious faith and discipline, and " the prince 
of the power of the air " was clothed with new energies, the 
Devil was taken broader account of by Christianity itself; 
the sorcery of the ancients was embodied in the Christian 
conception of witchcraft; and the church undertook to 
deal with it as a heresy; the door was opened wide to the 
sweep of the epidemic in some of the continental lands. 

In Bamburg and Wurzburg, Geneva and Como, Tou- 
louse and Lorraine, and in many other places in Italy, 
Germany, and France, thousands were sacrificed in the 
names of religion, justice, and law, with bigotry for their 
advocate, ignorance for their judge, and fanaticism for 
their executioner. The storm of demonism raged through 
three centuries, and was stayed only by the mighty bar- 
riers of protest, of inquiry, of remonstrance, and the forces 
that crystallize and mold public opinion, which guides 
the destinies of men in their march to a higher civilization. 

The flames burning so long and so fiercely on the con- 
tinent at first spread slowly in England and Scotland. 
Sorcery in some of its guises had obtained therein ever 
since the Conquest, and victims had been burned under 
the king's writ after sentence in the ecclesiastical courts; 
but witchcraft as a compact with Satan was not made a 
felony until 1541, by a statute of Henry VIII. Cranmer, 
in his Articles of Visitation in 1549, enjoined the clergy 



20 The Witchcraft Delusion 

to inquire as to any craft invented by the Devil; and 
Bishop Jewell, preaching before the queen in 1558, said: 

" It may please your Grace to understand that witches 
and sorcerers within these last few years are marvelously 
increased within your Grace's realm, Your Grace's sub- 
jects pine away even unto the death, their colour fadeth, 
their flesh rotteth, their speech is benumbed, their senses 
are bereft." 

The act of 1541 was amended in Queen Elizabeth's 
reign, in 1562, but at the accession of James I — himself a 
fanatic and bigot in religious matters, and the author of 
the famous Dcemonologie — a new law was enacted with 
exact definition of the crime, which remained in force 
more than a hundred years. Its chief provision was this: 

" If any person or persons use, practice or exercise any 
invocation or conjuration of any evil and wicked spirit, or 
shall consult, covenant with, entertain, employ, feed or 
reward any evil and wicked spirit to or for any intent or 
purpose, or take up any dead man, woman, or child out 
of his, her or their grave, or any other place where the 
dead body resteth or the skin, bone, or any part of any 
dead person, to be employed or used in any manner of 
witchcraft, sorcery, charm, or enchantment, or shall use, 
practise, or exercise any witchcraft, enchantment, charm, 
or sorcery, whereby any person shall be killed, destroyed, 
wasted, consumed, pined or lamed in his or her body or 
any part thereof: every such offender is a felon without 
benefit of clergy." 

Under this law, and the methods of its administration, 
witchcraft so called increased; persecutions multiplied, 
especially under the Commonwealth, and notably in the 



In Colonial Connecticut 21 

eastern counties of England, whence so many of all es- 
tates, all sorts and conditions of men, had fled over seas 
to set up the standard of independence in the Puritan 
colonies. 

Many executions occurred in Lancashire, in Suffolk, Es- 
sex, and Huntingdonshire, where the infamous scoundrel 
u Witch-finder-General " Matthew Hopkins, under the 
sanction of the courts, was "pricking," "waking," "watch- 
ing," and " testing " persons suspected or accused of witch- 
craft, with fiendish ingenuity of indignity and torture. 
Says James Howell in his Familiar Letters, in 1646 : 

"We have multitudes of witches among us; for in Essex 
and Suffolk there were above two hundred indicted within 
these two years, and above the half of them executed." 

"Within the compass of two years (1645-7), near upon 
three hundred witches were arraigned, and the major part 
of them executed in Essex and Suffolk only. Scotland 
swarms with them more and more, and persons of good 
quality are executed daily." 

Scotland set its seal on witchcraft as a crime by an act 
of its parliament so early as 1563, amended in 1649, The 
ministers were the inquisitors and persecutors. They 
heard the confessions, and inflicted the tortures, and their 
cruelties were commensurate with the hard and fast 
theology that froze the blood of mercy in their veins. 

The trials were often held by special commissions issued 
by the privy council, on the petition of a presbytery or 
general assembly. It was here that those terrible instru- 
ments of torture, the caschielawis, the lang irnis, the boot 
and the pilliewinkis, were used to wring confessions from 
the wretched victims. It is all a strange and gruesome 



22 The Witchcraft Delusion 

story of horrors told in detail in the state trial records, 
and elsewhere, from the execution of Janet Douglas — 
Lad} Glammis — to that of the poor old woman at Dor- 
noch who warmed herself at the fire set for her burning. 
So firmly seated in the Scotch mind was the belief in witch- 
craft as a sin and crime, that when the laws against it were 
repealed in 1736, Scotchmen in the highest stations of 
church and state remonstrated against the repeal as con- 
trary to the law of God; and William Forbes, in his " In- 
stitutes of the Law of Scotland," calls witchcraft "that 
black art whereby strange and wonderful things are 
wrought by a power derived from the devil." 

This glance at what transpired on the continent and in 
England and Scotland is of value, in the light it throws on 
the beliefs and convictions of both Pilgrim and Puritan — 
Englishmen all — in their new domain, their implicit re- 
liance on established precedents, their credulity in witch- 
craft matters, and their absolute trust in scriptural and 
secular authority for their judicial procedure, and the 
execution of the grim sentences of the courts, until the re- 
volting work of the accuser and the searcher, and the de- 
lusion of the ministers and magistrates aflame with mis- 
taken zeal vanished in the sober afterthought, the reaction 
of the public mind and conscience, which at last crushed 
the machinations of the Devil and his votaries in high 
places. 



CHAPTER IV 

"Hence among all the superstitions that have * stood over' from prime- 
val ages, the belief in witchcraft has been the most deeply rooted and the 
most tenacious of life. In all times and places until quite lately, among 
the most advanced communities, the reality of witchcraft has been ac- 
cepted without question, and scarcely any human belief is supported by 
so vast a quantity of recorded testimony." 

"Considering the fact that the exodus of Puritans to New England 
occurred during the reign of Charles I, while the persecutions for witch- 
craft were increasing toward a maximum in the mother country, it is 
rather strange that so few cases occurred in the New World." New 
France and New England (pp. 136-144), Fiske. 



THE forefathers believed in witchcraft — entering into 
compacts with the Devil — and in all its diabolical 
subtleties. They had cogent reasons for their belief in 
example and experience. They set it down in their codes 
as a capital offense. They found, as has been shown 
abundant authority in the Bible and in the English prec- 
edents. They anchored their criminal codes as they did 
their theology in the wide and deep haven of the Old 
Testament decrees and prophecies and maledictions, and 
doubted not that "the Scriptures do hold forth a perfect 
rule for the direction and government of all men in all 
duties which they are to perform to God and men." 

Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Haven, early in 
their history enacted these capital laws: 

In Massachusetts (1641): 



24 The Witchcraft Delusion 

"Witchcraft which is fellowship by covenant with a 
familiar spirit to be punished with death." 

" Consulters with witches not to be tolerated, but either 
to be cut off by death or banishment or other suitable 
punishment." (Abstract New England Laws, 1655.) 

In Connecticut (1642) : 

" If any man or woman be a witch — that is, hath or con- 
sulteth with a familiar spirit — they shall be put to death." 
Exodus xxii, 18; Leviticus xx, 27; Deuteronomy xviii, 
10, 11. (Colonial Records of Connecticut, Vol. I, p. 77). 

In New Haven (1655) : 

" If any person be a witch, he or she shall be put to 
death according to " Exodus xxii, 18; Leviticus xx, 27; 
Deuteronomy xviii, 10, 1 1 . (New Haven Colonial Records, 
Vol. II, p. 576, Cod. 1655). 

These laws were authoritative until the epidemic had 
ceased. 

Witches were tried, condemned, and executed with no 
question as to due legal power, in the minds of juries, 
counsel, and courts, until the hour of reaction came, has- 
tened by doubts and criticisms of the sources and char- 
acter of evidence, and the magistrates and clergy halted 
in their prosecutions and denunciations of an alleged 
crime born of delusion, and nurtured by a theology run 
rampant. 

u They had not been taught to question the wisdom or 
the humanity of English criminal law." (Blue Laws — 
True and False, p. 15, Trumbull.) 

Here and there in New England, following the great 
immigration from Old England, from 1630-40, during 
the Commonwealth, and to the Restoration, several cases 



In Colonial Connecticut 25 

of witchcraft occurred, but the mania did not set its seal 
on the minds of men, and inspire them to run amuck in 
their frenzy, until the days of the swift onset in Massachu- 
setts and Connecticut in 1692, when the zenith of Satan's 
reign was reached in the Puritan colonies. 

A few words about the tragedy at Salem are relevant 
and essential. They are written because it was the last 
outbreak of epidemic demonopathy among the civilized 
peoples; it has been exploited by writers abroad, who have 
left the dreadful record of the treatment of the delusion in 
their own countries in the background; it was accom- 
panied in some degree by like manifestations and methods 
of suppression in sister colonies; it was fanned into flames 
by men in high station who reveled in its merciless extir- 
pation as a religious duty, and eased their consciences 
afterwards by contrition, confession and remorse, for their 
valiant service in the army of the theological devil; and 
especially for the contrasts it presents to the more cautious 
and saner methods of procedure that obtained in the 
governments of Connecticut and New Haven at the apogee 
of the delusion. 

What say the historians and scholars, some of whose 
ancestors witnessed or participated in the tragedies, 
and whose acquaintance with the facts defies all chal- 
lenge ? 

u It is on the whole the most gruesome episode in Amer- 
ican history, and it sheds back a lurid light upon the long 
tale of witchcraft in the past." (Fiske's New France and 
New England, 195.) 

"The sainted minister in the church; the woman of the 
scarlet letter in the market place! What imagination 



26 The Witchcraft Delusion 

would have been irreverent enough to surmise that the 
same scorching stigma was on them both." (Scarlet Letter, 
Hawthorne.) 

"We are made partners in parish and village feuds. 
We share in the chimney corner gossip, and learn for the 
first time how many mean and merely human motives, 
whether consciously or unconsciously, gave impulse and 
intensity to the passions of the actors in that memorable 
tragedy which dealt the death blow in this country to the 
belief in Satanic compacts." (Among my Books — Witch- 
craft, p. 142, Lowell.) 

" The tragedy was at an end. It lasted about six months, 
from the first accusations in March until the last execu- 
tions in September. ... It was an epidemic of mad 
superstitious fear, bitterly to be regretted, and a stain upon 
the high civilization of the Bay Colony." (Historic Towns 
of New England, Salem, p. 148, Latimer.) 

What was done at Salem, when the tempest of unreason 
broke loose ? Who were the chief actors in it ? This was 
done. From the first accusation in March, 1692, to the 
last execution in September, 1692, nineteen persons were 
hanged and one man was pressed to death * (no witch 
was ever burned in New England), hundreds of innocent 
men and women were imprisoned, or fled into exile or 
hiding places, their homes were broken up, their estates 
were ruined, and their families and friends were left in 
sorrow, anxiety, and desolation; and all this terrorism was 
wrought at the instance of the chief men in the communi- 
ties, the magistrates, and the ministers. 

* Fifty-five persons suffered torture, and twenty were executed before 
the delusion ended. Ency. Americana (Vol. 16, " Witchcraft ")• 



In Colonial Connecticut 27 

Upham in his Salem Witchcraft (Vol. II. pp. 249-250) 
thus pictures the situation. 

"The prisons in Salem, Ipswich, Boston, and Cam- 
bridge, were crowded. All the securities of society were 
dissolved. Every man's life was at the mercy of every 
man. Fear sat on every countenance, terror and distress 
were in all hearts, silence pervaded the streets; all who 
could, quit the country; business was at a stand; a con- 
viction sunk into the minds of men, that a dark and in- 
fernal confederacy had got foot-hold in the land, threaten- 
ing to overthrow and extirpate religion and morality, and 
establish the kingdom of the Prince of darkness in a coun- 
try which had been dedicated, by the prayers and tears 
and sufferings of its pious fathers, to the Church of Christ 
and the service and worship of the true God. The feel- 
ing, dismal and horrible indeed, became general, that the 
providence of God was removed from them; that Satan 
was let loose, and he and his confederates had free and 
unrestrained power to go to and fro, torturing and de- 
stroying whomever he willed." 

The trials were held by a Special Court, consisting of 
William Stoughton, Peter Sergeant, Nath. Saltonstall, 
Wait Winthrop, Bartho' Gedney, John Richards, Saml. 
Sewall, John Hathorne, Tho. Newton, and Jonathan Cor- 
win, — not one of them a lawyer. 

Whatever his associates may have thought of their ways 
of doing God's service, after the tragedy was over, Sewall, 
one of the most zealous of the justices, made a public 
confession of his errors before the congregation of the 
Old South Church, January 14, 1697. Were the agon- 
izing groans of poor old Giles Corey, pressed to death un- 



28 The Witchcraft Delusion 

der planks weighted with stones, or the prayers of the 
saintly Burroughs ringing in his ears ? 

" The conduct of Judge Sewall claims our particular 
admiration. He observed annually in private a day of 
humiliation and prayer, during the remainder of his life, 
to keep fresh in his mind a sense of repentance and sor- 
row for the part he bore in the trials. On the day of the 
general fast, he arose in the place where he was accus- 
tomed to worship, the old South, in Boston, and in the 
presence of the great assembly, handed up to the pulpit 
a written confession, acknowledging the error into which 
he had been led, praying for the forgiveness of God and 
his people, and concluding with a request, to all the con- 
gregation to unite with him in devout supplication, that 
it might not bring down the displeasure of the Most High 
upon his country, his family, or himself. He remained 
standing during the public reading of the paper. This 
was an act of true manliness and dignity of soul." (Up- 
ham's Salem Witchcraft, Vol. II, p. 441). 

Grim, stern, narrow as he was, this man in his self- 
judgment commands the respect of all true men. 

The ministers stood with the magistrates in their de- 
lusion and intemperate zeal. Two hundred and sixteen 
years after the last witch was hung in Massachusetts a 
clearer light falls on one of the striking personalities of 
the time — Cotton Mather — who to a recent date has been 
credited with the chief responsibility for the Salem prose- 
cutions. 

Did he deserve it ? 

Robert Calef, in his More Wonders of the Invisible 
World, Bancroft in his History of the United States, 



In Colonial Connecticut 29 

and Charles W. Upham in his Salem Witchcraft, are 
the chief writers who have placed Mather in the foreground 
of those dreadful scenes, as the leading minister of the 
time, an active personal participant in the trials and exe- 
cutions, and a zealot in the maintenance of the ministerial 
dignity and domination. 

On the other hand, the learned scholar, the late Wil- 
liam Frederick Poole, first in the North American 
Review, in 1869, and again in his paper Witchcraft in 
Boston, in 1882, in the Memorial History of Boston, calls 
Calef an immature youth, and says that his obvious in- 
tent, and that of the several unknown contributors who 
aided him, was to malign the Boston ministers and to 
make a sensation. 

And the late John Fiske, in his New France and New 
England (p. 155), holds that: 

" Mather's rules (of evidence) would not have allowed 
a verdict of guilty simply upon the drivelling testimony 
of the afflicted persons, and if this wholesome caution had 
been observed, not a witch would ever have been hung in 
Salem." 

What were those rules of evidence and of procedure 
attributed to Mather? Through the Special Court ap- 
pointed to hold the witch trials, and early in its sittings, 
the opinions of twelve ministers of Boston and vicinity 
were asked as to witchcraft. Cotton Mather wrote and 
his associates signed an answer June 15, 1692, entitled, 
The Return of Several Ministers Consulted by his Excel- 
lency and the Honorable Council upon the Present Witch- 
crafts in Salem Village. This was the opinion of the 
ministers, and it is most important to note what is 



30 The Witchcraft Delusion 

said in it of spectral evidence,* as it was upon such evi- 
dence that many convictions were had : 

" 1. The afflicted state of our poor neighbors that are 
now suffering by molestations from the Invisible World 
we apprehend so deplorable, that we think their condition 
calls for the utmost help of all persons in their several 
capacities. 

"2. "We cannot but with all thankfulness acknowledge 
the success which the merciful God has given unto the 
sedulous and assiduous endeavors of our honorable rulers 
to detect the abominable witchcrafts which have been 
committed in the country; humbly praying that the dis- 
covery of these mysterious and mischievous wickednesses 
may be perfected. 

"3. We judge that, in the prosecution of these and all 
such witchcrafts there is need of a very critical and ex- 
quisite caution, lest by too much credulity for things re- 
ceived only upon the devil's authority, there be a door 
opened for a long train of miserable consequences, and 
Satan get an advantage over us; for we should not be ig- 
norant of his devices. 

"4. As in complaints upon witchcraft there may be 
matters of inquiry which do not amount unto matters of 
presumption, and there may be matters of presumption 
which yet may not be matters of conviction, so it is nec- 

* An illustration: The child Ann Putnam, in her testimony against the 
Rev. Mr. Burroughs, said that one evening the apparition of a minister 
came to her and asked her to write her name in the devil's book. Then 
came the forms of two women in winding sheets, and looked angrily 
upon the minister and scolded him until he was fain to vanish away. 
Then the women told Ann that they were the ghosts of Mr. Burroughs' 
first and second wives whom he had murdered. 



In Colonial Connecticut 31 

essary that all proceedings thereabout be managed with 
an exceeding tenderness toward those that may be com- 
plained of, especially if they have been persons formerly 
of an unblemished reputation. 

"5. When the first inquiry is made into the circum- 
stances of such as may lie under the just suspicion of witch- 
crafts, we could wish that there may be admitted as little 
as possible of such noise, company and openness as may 
too hastily expose them that are examined, and that there 
may be nothing used as a test for the trial of the sus- 
pected, the lawfulness whereof may be doubted by 
the people of God, but that the directions given by 
such judicious writers as Perkins and Barnard may be 
observed. 

"6. Presumptions whereupon persons may be com- 
mitted, and much more, convictions whereupon persons 
may be condemned as guilty of witchcrafts, ought cer- 
tainly to be more considerable than barely the accused 
persons being represented by a spectre unto the afflicted, 
inasmuch as it is an undoubted and notorious thing that 
a demon may by God's permission appear even to ill 
purposes, in the shape of an innocent, yea, and a virtuous 
man. Nor can we esteem alterations made in the sufferers, 
by a look or touch of the accused, to be an infallible evi- 
dence of guilt, but frequently liable to be abused by the 
devil's legerdemains. 

"7. We know not whether some remarkable affronts 
given the devils, by our disbelieving these testimonies 
whose whole force and strength is from them alone, may 
not put a period unto the progress of the dreadful calamity 
begun upon us, in the accusation of so many persons 



32 The Witchcraft Delusion 

whereof some, we hope, are yet clear from the great trans- 
gression laid to their charge. 

"8. Nevertheless, we cannot but humbly recommend 
unto the government, the speedy and vigorous prosecu- 
tions of such as have rendered themselves obnoxious, ac- 
cording to the directions given in the laws of God and the 
wholesome statutes of the English nation for the detection 
of witchcrafts." 

Did Longfellow, after a critical study of the original 
evidence and records, truly interpret Mather's views, in 
his dialogue with Hathorne ? 

Mather: 

" Remember this, 

That as a sparrow falls not to the ground 

Without the will of God, so not a Devil 

Can come down from the air without his leave. 

We must inquire." 

Hathorne : 

"Dear sir, we have inquired; 
Sifted the matter thoroughly through and through, 
And then resifted it." 

Mather : 

" If God permits 
These evil spirits from the unseen regions 
To visit us with surprising informations, 
We must inquire what cause there is for this, 
But not receive the testimony borne 
By spectres as conclusive proof of guilt 
In the accused." 



In Colonial Connecticut 33 

Hathorne: 

" Upon such evidence 
We do not rest our case. The ways are many 
In which the guilty do betray themselves." 

Mather: 

* Be careful, carry the knife with such exactness 

That on one side no innocent blood be shed 

By too excessive zeal, and on the other 

No shelter given to any work of darkness." 

New England Tragedies (4, 725), Longfellow. 

Whatever Mather's caution to the court may have been, 
or his leadership in learning, or his ambition and his 
clerical zeal, there is thus far no evidence, in all his per- 
sonal participation in the tragedies, that he lifted his hand 
to stay the storm of terrorism once begun, or cried halt to 
the magistrates in their relentless work. On the contrary, 
after six victims had been executed, August 4, 1692, in 
A Discourse on the Wonders of the Invisible World, 
Mather wrote this in deliberate, cool afterthought: 

"They — the judges — have used as judges have hereto- 
fore done, the spectral evidences, to introduce their farther 
inquiries into the lives of the persons accused; and they 
have thereupon, by the wonderful Providence of God, 
been so strengthened with other evidences that some of 
the witch-gang have been fairly executed." 

And a year later, in the light of all his personal experience 
and investigation, Mather solemnly declared: 

w If in the midst of the many dissatisfactions among us, 
the publication of these trials may promote such a pious 



34 The Witchcraft Delusion 

thankfulness unto God for justice being so far executed 
among us, I shall rejoice that God is glorified." 

Wherever the responsibility at Salem may have rested, 
the truth is that in the general fear and panic there was 
potent in the minds, both of the clergy and the laity, the 
spirit of fanaticism and malevolence in some instances, 
such as misled the pastor of the First Church to point to 
the corpses of Giles Corey's devoted and saintly wife and 
others swinging to and fro, and say " What a sad thing it 
is to see eight firebrands of hell hanging there." 

This conspectus of witchcraft, old and new, of its de- 
velopment from the sorcery and magic of the ancients 
into the mediaeval theological dogma of the power of 
Satan, of its gradual ripening into an epidemic demon- 
opathy, of its slow growth in the American colonies, of 
its volcanic outburst in the close of the seventeenth cen- 
tury, is relevant and appropriate to this account of the 
delusion in Connecticut, its rise and suppression, its firm 
hold on the minds and consciences of the colonial leaders 
for threescore years after the settlement of the towns, a 
chapter in Connecticut history written in the presence of 
the actual facts now made known and available, and with 
a purpose of historic accuracy. 



CHAPTER V 



" It was not to be expected of the colonists of New England that they 
should be the first to see through a delusion which befooled the whole 
civilized world, and the gravest and most knowing persons in it. The 
colonists in Connecticut and New Haven, as well as in Massachusetts, 
like all other Christian people at that time — at least with extremely rare 
individual exceptions — believed in the reality of a hideous crime called 
witchcraft." Palfrey's New England (Vol. IV, pp. 96-127). 

"The truth is that it [witchcraft] pervaded the whole Christian Church. 
The law makers and the ministers of New England were under its in- 
fluences as — and no more than — were the law makers and ministers of 
Old England." Blue Laws — True and False (p. 23), Trumbull. 

44 One of Windsor Arraigned and Executed at Hartford for a 

Witch." Winthrop's Journal (2: 374, Savage Ed., 1853). 



HERE beginneththe first chapter of the story of the 
delusion in Connecticut. It is an entry made by 
John Winthrop, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay 
Colony, in his famous journal, without specific date, but 
probably in the spring of 1647. 

It is of little consequence save as much has been made 
of it by some writers as fixing the relative date of the 
earliest execution for witchcraft in New England, and lo- 
cating it in one of the three original Connecticut towns. 

What matters it at this day whether Mary Johnson as 
tradition runs, or Alse Youngs as truth has it, was put to 
death for witchcraft in Windsor, Connecticut, in 1647, J 
or Martha Jones of Charlestown, Massachusetts, was 



36 The Witchcraft Delusion 

hung for the same crime at Boston in 1648, as also set down 
in Winthrop's Journal? 

" It may possibly be thought a great neglect, or matter 
of partiality, that no account is given of witchcraft in 
Connecticut. The only reason is, that after the most 
careful researches, no indictment of any person for that 
crime, nor any process relative to that affair can be found." 
(History of Connecticut, 1799, Preface, Benjamin Trum- 
bull, D. D.) 

" A few words should be said regarding the author's men- 
tion of the subject of witchcraft in Connecticut. . . . 
It is, I believe, strictly true, as he says 6 that no indictment 
of any person for that crime nor any process relative to 
that affair can be found.' 

" It must be confessed, however, that a careful study of 
the official colonial records of Connecticut and New Haven 
leaves no doubt that Goodwife Bassett was convicted and 
hung at Stratford for witchcraft in 1651, and Goodwife 
Knapp at Fairfield in 1653. It is also recorded in Win- 
throp's Journal that 'One of Windsor was ar- 
raigned and executed at Hartford for a witch' in March, 
1646-47, which if it actually occurred, forms the first in- 
stance of an execution for witchcraft in New England. 
The quotation here given is the only known authority for 
the statement, and opens the question whether something 
probably recorded as hearsay in a journal, may be taken 
as authoritative evidence of an occurrence. . . . The 
fact however remains, that the official records are as our 
author says, silent regarding the actual proceedings, and 
it is only by inference that it may be found from these 
records that the executions took place." (Introduction 



In Colonial Connecticut 37 

to Reprint of Trumbull's History of Connecticut, 1898, 
Jonathan Trumbull.) 

The searcher for inerrant information about witchcraft 
in Connecticut may easily be led into a maze of contra- 
dictions, and the statement last above quoted is an apt 
illustration, with record evidence to the contrary on every 
hand. Tradition, hearsay, rumor, misstatements, errors, 
all colored by ignorance or half knowledge, or a local 
jealousy or pride, have been woven into a woof of prece- 
dent and acceptance, and called history. 

As has been already stated, the general writers from 
Trumbull to Johnston have nothing of value to say on 
the subject; the open official records and the latest his- 
tory — Connecticut as a Colony and a State — cover only 
certain cases, and nowhere from the beginning to this day 
has the story of witchcraft been fully told. 

Connecticut can lose nothing in name or fame or honor, 
if, more than two centuries after the last witch was exe- 
cuted within her borders, the facts as to her share in the 
strange superstition be certified from the current records 
of the events. 

How may this story best be told? Clearly, so far as 
may be, in the very words of the actors in those tragic 
scenes, in the words of the minister and magistrate, the 
justice and the juryman, the accuser and the accused, 
and the searcher. Into this court of inquiry come all 
these personalities to witness the sorrowful march of the 
victims to the scaffold or to exile, or to acquittal and de- 
liverance with the after life of suspicion and social ostra- 
cism. 

The spectres of terror did not sit alone at the firesides 



38 The Witchcraft Delusion 

of the poor and lowly: they stalked in high places, and 
were known of men and women of the first rank in edu- 
cation and the social virtues, and of greatest influence in 
church and state. 

Of this fact there is complete demonstration in a glance 
at the dignitaries who presided at one of the earliest witch- 
craft trials — men of notable ancestry, of learning, of 
achievements, leaders in colonial affairs, whose memories 
are honored to this day. 

These were the magistrates at a session entitled "A 
particular courte in Hartford upon the tryall of John Car- 
rington and his wife 20th Feb., 1662" (See Rec. P. C, 
2: 17): Edw. Hopkins Esqr., Gournor John Haynes Esqr. 
Deputy, Mr. Wells, Mr. Woolcott, Mr. Webster, Mr. 
Cullick, Mr. Clarke. 

This court had jurisdiction over misdemeanors, and 
was " aided by a jury," as a close student of colonial his- 
tory, the late Sherman W. Adams, quaintly says in one 
of his historical papers. These were the jurymen: 

Mr. Phelps John White John More 

Mr. Tailecoat Will Leawis Edw. Griswold 

Mr. Hollister Sam. Smith Steph. Harte 

Daniel Milton John Pratt Theo. Judd 

Before this tribunal — representative of the others doing 
like service later — made up of the foremost citizens, and 
of men in the ordinary walks of life, endowed with hard 
common sense and presumably inspired with a spirit of 
justice and fair play, came John Carrington and his wife 
Joan of Wethersfield, against whom the jury brought in 
a verdict of guilty. 



In Colonial Connecticut 39 

It must be clearly borne in mind that all these men, in 
this as in all the other witchcraft trials in Connecticut, il- 
lustrious or commonplace — as are many of their descend- 
ants whose names are written on the rolls of the patriotic 
societies in these days of ancestral discovery and exploi- 
tation — were absolute believers in the powers of Satan 
and his machinations through witchcraft and the evidence 
then adduced to prove them, and trained to such credulity 
by their education and experience, by their theological 
doctrines, and by the law of the land in Old England, but 
still clothed upon with that righteousness which as it proved 
in the end made them skeptical as to certain alleged evi- 
dences of guilt, and swift to respond to the calls of reason 
and of mercy when the appeals were made to their calm 
judgment and second thought as to the sins of their fellow- 
men. 

In no way can the truth be so clearly set forth, the real 
character of the evidence be so justly appreciated upon 
which the convictions were had, as from the depositions 
and the oral testimony of the witnesses themselves. They 
are lasting memorials to the credulity and superstition, 
and the religious insanity which clouded the senses of 
the wisest men for a time, and to the malevolence and 
satanic ingenuity of the people who, possessed of the devil 
accused their friends and neighbors of a crime punishable 
by death. 

Nor is this dark chapter in colonial history without its 
flashes of humor and ridiculousness, as one follows the 
absurd and unbridled testimonies which have been chosen 
as completely illustrative of the whole series in the years 
of the witchcraft nightmare. They are in part cited here, 



40 The Witchcraft Delusion 

for the sake of authenticity and exactness, as written out 
in the various court records and depositions, published 
and unpublished, in the ancient style of spelling, and are 
worthy the closest study for many reasons. 

It will, however, clear the way to a better understanding 
of the unique testimonies of the witch witnesses, if there be 
first presented the authoritative reasons for the examina- 
tion of a witch, coupled with a summary of the lawful 
tests of innocence or guilt. They are in the handwriting 
of William Jones, a Deputy Governor of Connecticut and 
a member of the court at some of the trials. 

Grounds for Examination of a Witch 

" 1. Notorious defamacon by ye common report of the 
people a ground of suspicion. 

" 2. Second ground for strict examinacon is if a fellow 
witch gave testimony on his examinacon or death yt such 
a pson is a witch, but this is not sufficient for conviccon 
or condemnacon. 

"3. If after cursing, there follow death or at least mis- 
chiefe to ye party. 

"4. If after quarrelling or threatening a prsent mis- 
chiefe doth follow for ptye's devilishly disposed after curs- 
ing doe use threatnings, & yt alsoe is a grt prsumcon agt 

y- 

" 5. If ye pty suspected be ye son or daughter, the serv't 
or familiar friend, neer neighbors or old companion of a 
knowne or convicted witch this alsoe is a prsumcon, for 
witchcraft is an art yt may be larned & covayd from man 
to man & oft it falleth out yt a witch dying leaveth som 
of ye af oresd heires of her witchcraft. 

" 6. If ye pty suspected have ye devills mark for t'is 
thought wn ye devill maketh his covent with y he alwayess 
leaves his mark behind him to know y for his owne yt 



In Colonial Connecticut 41 

is, if noe evident reason in can be given for such 

mark. 

" 7. Lastly if ye pty examined be unconstant & contrary 
to himselfe in his answers. 

" Thus much for examinacon wch usually is by Q. & 
some tymes by torture upon strong & grt presumcon. 

" For conviccon it must be grounded on just and suffi- 
cient proof es. The proof es for conviccon of 2 sorts, 1, 
Some be less sufficient, some more sufficient. 

" Less sufficient used in formr ages by red hot iron and 
scalding water, ye pty to put in his hand in one or take 
up ye othr, if not hurt ye pty cleered, if hurt convicted for 
a witch, but this was utterly condemned. In som coun- 
tryes anothr proofe justified by some of ye learned by 
casting ye pty bound into water, if she sanck counted 
inocent, if she sunk not yn guilty, but all those tryalls the 
author counts supstitious and unwarrantable and worse. 
Although casting into ye water is by some justified for ye 
witch having made a ct wth ye devill she hath renounced 
her baptm & hence ye antipathy between her & water, 
but this he makes nothing off. Anothr insufficient testi- 
moy of a witch is ye testimony of a wizard, who prtends to 
show ye face of ye witch to ye party afflicted in a glass, 
but this he counts diabolicall & dangerous, ye devill may 
reprsent a pson inocent. Nay if after curses & threats 
mischiefe follow or if a sick pson like to dy take it on his 
death such a one has bewitched him, there are strong 
grounds of suspicon for strict examinacon but not suffi- 
cient for conviccon. 

" But ye truer proof es sufficient for conviccon are ye vol- 
untary confession of ye pty suspected adjudged sufficient 
proofe by both divines & lawyers. Or 2 the testimony 
of 2 Witnesses of good and honest report avouching things 
in theire knowledge before ye magistrat 1 wither yt ye 
party accused hath made a league wth ye devill or 2d or 
hath ben some knowne practices of witchcraft. Argumts 



42 The Witchcraft Delusion 

to prove either must be as 1 if they can pve ye pty hath 
invocated ye devill for his help this pt of yt ye devill binds 
withes to. 

" Or 2 if ye pty hath entertained a familiar spt in any 
forme mouse cat or othr visible creature. 

" Or 3 if they affirm upon oath ye pty hath done any ac- 
con or work wch inferreth a ct wth ye devill, as to shew ye 
face of a man in a glass, or used inchantmts or such f eates, 
divineing of things to come, raising tempests, or causing 
ye forme of a dead man to appeare or ye like it sufficiently 
pves a witch. 

" But altho those are difficult things to prove yet yr are 
wayes to come to ye knowledg of y, for tis usuall wth Satan 
to pmise anything till ye league be ratified, & then he 
nothing ye discovery of y, for wtever 

witches intend the devill intends nothing but theire utter 
confusion, therefore in ye just judgmt of God it soe oft 
falls out yt some witches shall by confession discour ys, 
or by true testimonies be convicted. 

" And ye reasons why ye devill would discover y is 1 his 
malice towards all men 2 his insatiable desire to have ye 
witches not sure enough of y till yn. 

" And ye authors warne jurors, &c not to condemne sus- 
pected psons on bare prsumtions wthout good & suffi- 
cient proof es. 

" But if convicted of yt horrid crime to be put to death, 
for God hath said thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." 

The accuser and the prosecutor were aided in their work 
in a peculiar way. It was the theory and belief that every 
witch was marked — very privately marked — by the Devil, 
and the marks could only be discovered by a personal 
examination. And thus there came into the service of the 
courts a servant known as a " searcher," usually a woman, 
as most of the unfortunates who were accused were women. 



In Colonial Connecticut 43 

The location and identification of the witch marks in- 
volved revolting details, some of the reports being un- 
printable. It is, however, indispensable to a right under- 
standing of the delusion and the popular opinions which 
made it possible, that these incidents, abhorrent and 
nauseating as they are, be given within proper limitations 
to meet inquiry — not curiosity — and because they may be 
noted in various records. 

A standard authority in legal procedure in England, 
recognized in witchcraft prosecutions in the New England 
colonies, was DaltorCs Country Justice, first published in 
1619 in England, and in its last edition in 1746. 

In its chapter on Witchcraft are these directions as to 
the witch marks: 

"These witches have ordinarily a familiar, or spirit 
which appeareth to them, sometimes in one shape and 
sometimes in another; as in the shape of a man, woman, 
boy, dog, cat, foal, hare, rat, toad, etc. And to these their 
spirits, they give names, and they meet together to chris- 
ten them (as they speak). . . . And besides their 
sucking the Devil leaveth other marks upon their body, 
sometimes like a blue or red spot, like a flea-biting, some- 
times the flesh sunk in and hollow. And these Devil's 
marks be insensible, and being pricked will not bleed, 
and be often in their secretest parts, and therefore require 
diligent and careful search. These first two are main 
points to discover and convict those witches." 

These methods were adopted in the proceedings against 
witches in Connecticut, and it will suffice to cite one of the 
reports of a committee — Sarah Burr, Abigail Burr, Abi- 
gail Howard, Sarah Wakeman, and Hannah Wilson, — 



44 The Witchcraft Delusion 

" apointed (by the court) to make sarch upon ye bodis of 
Marcy Disbrough and Goodwif Clauson," at Fairfield, in 
September and October 1692, sworn to before Jonathan 
Bell, Commissioner, and John Allyn, Secretary. 

" Wee Sarah bur and abigall bur and Abigail howard 
and Sarah wakman all of f ayrf eild with hanna wilson being 
by order of authority apointed to make sarch upon ye 
bodis of marcy disbrough and goodwif Clauson to see 
what they Could find on ye bodies of ether & both of them; 
and wee retor as followeth and doe testify as to goodwif 
Clauson forementioned wee found on her secret parts Just 
within ye lips of ye same growing within sid sumewhat 
as broad and reach without ye lips of ye same about on 
Inch and half long lik in shape to a dogs eare which wee 
apprehend to be vnvsuall to women. 

" and as to marcy wee find on marcy foresayd on her se- 
cret parts growing within ye lep of ye same a los pees of 
skin and when puld it is near an Inch long somewhat in 
form of ye fingar of a glove flatted 

" that lose skin wee Judge more than common to 
women." 

" Octob. 29 1692 The above sworn by the above-named 
as attests 

" John Allyn Secry " 



CHAPTER VI 

"Remembering all this, it is not surprising that witches were tried, 
convicted and put to death in New England; and the manner in which 
the waning superstition was dealt with by Connecticut lawyers and 
ministers is the more significant of that robust common sense, rejection 
of superstition, political and religious, and fearless acceptance of the 
ethical mandates of the great Law-giver, which influenced the growth 
of their jurisprudence and stamped it with an unmistakable individu- 
ality." Connecticut; Origin of her Courts and Laws (N. E. States, 1 : 487- 
488), Hamersley. 

"They made witch-hunting a branch of their social police, and desire 
for social solidarity. That this was wrong and mischievous is granted; 
but it is ordinary human conduct now as then. It was a most illogical, 
capricious, and dangerous form of enforcing punishment, abating nui- 
sances, and shutting out disagreeable truths; fertile in injustice, op- 
pression, the shedding of innocent blood, and the extinguishing of light. 
No one can justify it, or plead beneficial results from it which could not 
have been secured with far less evil in other ways. But it was natural 
that, believing the crime to exist, they should use the belief to strike down 
offenders or annoyances out of reach of any other legal means. They 
did not invent the crime for the purpose, nor did they invent the death 
penalty for this crime." Connecticut as a Colony (1 : 206), Morgan. 

"As to what you mention, concerning that poor creature in your town 
that is afflicted and mentioned my name to yourself and son, I return 
you hearty thanks for your intimation about it, and for your charity 
therein mentioned; and I have great cause to bless God, who, of his mercy 
hitherto, hath not left me to fall into such an horrid evil." Extract of a 
Letter from Sec. Allyn to Increase Mather, Hartford, Mar. 18, 1692-93. 

AN accusation of witchcraft was a serious matter, one 
of life or death, and often it was safer to become an 
accuser than one of the accused. Made in terror, malice, 
mischief, revenge, or religious dementia, or of some other 



46 The Witchcraft Delusion 

ingredients in the Devil's brew, it passed through the stages 
of suspicion, espionage, watchings, and searchings, to the 
formal complaints and indictments which followed the 
testimony of the witnesses, in their madness and delusion 
hot-foot to tell the story of their undoing, their grotesque 
imaginings, their spectral visions, their sufferings at the 
hands of Satan and his tools, and all aimed at people, their 
neighbors and acquaintances, often wholly innocent, but 
having marked personal peculiarities, or of irregular lives 
by the Puritan standard, or unpopular in their communi- 
ties, who were made the victim of one base passion or 
another and brought to trial for a capital offense against 
person and property. 

Taking into account the actual number of accusations, 
trials, and convictions or acquittals, the number of wit- 
nesses called and depositions given was very great. And 
the later generations owe their opportunity to judge aright 
in the matter, to the foresight of the men of chief note in 
the communities who saw the vital necessity of record 
evidence, and so early as 1666, in the General Court of 
Connecticut, it was ordered that 

"Whatever testimonies are improved in any court of 
justice in this corporation in any action or case to be tried, 
shall be presented in writing, and so kept by the secretary 
or clerk of the said court on file." 

This preliminary analysis brings the searcher for the 
truth face to face with the very witnesses who have left 
behind them, in the attested records, the ludicrous or 
solemn, the pitiable or laughable memorials of their own 
folly, delusion, or deviltry, which marked them then and 
now as Satan's chosen servitors. 



In Colonial Connecticut 47 

Among the many witnesses and their statements on oath 
now made available, the chief difficulty is one of selection 
and elimination; and there will be presented here with the 
context some of the chief depositions * and statements in 
the most notable witchcraft trials in some of the Connecti- 
cut towns, that are typical of all of them, and show upon 
what travesties of evidence the juries found their verdicts 
and the courts imposed their sentences. 

KATHERINE (KATERAN) HARRISON 

At a Court of Assistants held at Hartford May 11, 1669, 
presided over by Maj. John Mason — the conqueror of 
the Pequots — then Deputy Governor, Katherine Harrison, 
after an examination by the court on a charge of suspicion 
of witchcraft, was committed to the common jail, to be 
kept in durance until she came to trial and deliverance by 
the law. 

At an adjourned session of the court at Hartford, 
May 25, 1669, presided over by John Winthrop, Gov- 
ernor, with William Leete, Deputy Governor, Major Ma- 
son and others as assistants, an indictment was found 
against the prisoner in these words : 

"Kateran Harrison thou standest here indicted by ye 
name of Kateran Harrison (of Wethersfield) as being 

* The selected testimonies herein given are from the Connecticut and 
New Haven colonial records; from the original depositions in some of 
the witchcraft cases, in manuscript, a part of the Wyllys Papers, so 
called, now in the Connecticut State Library; and from the notes and 
papers on witchcraft of the late Charles J. Hoadley, LL.D., compiler of 
the colonial and state records, and for nearly a half century the state 
librarian. 



48 The Witchcraft Delusion 

guilty of witchcraft for that thou not haueing the fear of 
God before thine eyes hast had familiaritie with Sathan 
the grand enemie of god and mankind and by his help hast 
acted things beyond and beside the ordinary course of 
nature and hast thereby hurt the bodyes of divers of the 
subjects of or souraigne Lord the King of which by the 
law of god and of this corporation thou oughtest to dye." 

Katherine plead not guilty and "refered herself to a 
tryall by the jury present," to whom this solemn oath was 
administered : 

" You doe sware by the great and dreadful name of the 
everliuing god that you will well and truely try just ver- 
dict give and true deliverance make between or Souraigne 
Lord the King and such prisoner or prisoners at the barr 
as shall be given you in charge according to the Evidence 
given in Court and the lawes so help you god in or lord 
Jesus." 

A partial trial was had at the May session of the court, 
but the jury could not agree upon a verdict, and adjourn- 
ment was had until the October session, when a verdict 
was to be given in, and the prisoner was remanded to 
remain in prison in the meantime. 

It seems incredible that men like Winthrop and Mason, 
Treat and Leete, and others of the foremost rank in those 
days, could have served as judges in such trials, and in 
all earnestness and sincerity listened to and given credence 
to the drivel, the travesties of common sense, the mock- 
eries of truth, which fell from the lips of the witnesses in 
their testimonies. Some of the absurd charges against 
Katherine Harrison invite particular attention and need 
no comment. They speak for themselves. 






In Colonial Connecticut 49 

Thomas Bracy (probably Tracy) — Misfit jacket and 

breeches — Vision of the red calfs head — Murderous 

counsel — " Afflicting e " 

"Thomas Bracy aged about 31 years testifieth as fol- 
lows that formerly James Wakeley would haue borrowed 
a saddle of the saide Thomas Bracy, which Thomas Bracy 
denyed to lend to him, he threatened Thomas and saide, 
it had bene better he had lent it to him. Allsoe Thomas 
Bracy beinge at worke the same day making a jacket & 
a paire of breeches, he labored to his best understanding 
to set on the sleeues aright on the jacket and seauen tymes 
he placed the sleues wronge, setting the elbow on the 
wronge side and was faine to rip them of and new set them 
on againe, and allsoe the breeches goeing to cut out the 
breeches, haueing two peices of cloth of different collors, 
he was soe bemoydered in the matter, that he cut the 
breeches one of one collor the other off another collor, 
in such a manner he was bemoydered in his understand- 
inge or actinge yet neuertheless the same daie and tyme 
he was well in his understandinge and health in other 
matters and soe was forced to leaue workinge that daie. 

"The said Thomas beinge at Sargant Hugh Wells his 
house ouer against John Harrison's house, in Weathers- 
field, he saw a cart cominge towards John Harrisons house 
loaden wth hay, on the top of the hay he saw perfectly a 
red calfes head, the eares standing peart up, and keeping 
his sight on the cart tell the cart came to the barne, the 
calfe vanised, and Harrison stoode on the carte wch ap- 
pared not to Thomas before, nor could Thomas find or 
see any calfe theire at all though he sought to see the calfe. 

"After this Thomas Bracy giuing out some words, that 



50 The Witchcraft Delusion 

he suspected Katherin Gooddy Harrison of witchcraft, 
Katherin Harrison mett Thomas Bracy and threatned 
Thomas telling him that shee would be euen with him. 
After that Thomas Bracy aforesaide, being well in his 
sences & health and perfectly awake, his brothers in bed 
with him, Thomas aforesaid saw the saide James Wakely 
and the saide Katherin Harrison stand by his bed side, 
consultinge to kill him the said Thomas, James Wakely 
said he would cut his throate, but Katherin counselled to 
strangle him, presently the said Katherin seised on Thomas 
striuinge to strangle him, and pulled or pinched him so 
as if his flesh had been pulled from his bones, theirefore 
Thomas groaned. At length his father Marten heard and 
spake, then Thomas left groninge and lay quiet a little, 
and then Katherin fell againe to afflictinge and pinching, 
Thomas againe groninge Mr. Marten heard and arose 
and came to Thomas whoe could not speake till Mr. Mar- 
ten laid his hands on Thomas, then James and Katherin 
aforesaid went to the beds feete, his father Marten and his 
mother stayed watchinge by Thomas all that night after, 
and the next day Mr. Marten and his wife saw the mark 
of the saide afflictinge and pinchinge." 

" Dated 13th of August one thousand six hundred sixtie 
and eight. 

u Hadley. Taken upon oath before us. 

"Henry Clarke. 
"Samuell Smith." 

Joseph Dickinson — Voice calling Hoccanum! Hoccanum! 
Hoccanum! — A far cry — Cows running " taile on end " 
" The deposition of Joseph Dickenson of Northampton, 



In Colonial Connecticut 51 

aged about 32 years, testifieth that he and Philip Smith of 
Hadley went down early in the morninge to the greate dry 
swampe, and theire we heard a voice call Hoccanum, 
Hoccanum, Come Hoccanum, and coming further into 
the swampe wee see that it was Katherin Harrison that 
caled as before. We saw Katherin goe from thence home- 
wards. The said Philip parted from Joseph, and a small 
tyme after Joseph met Philip againe, and then the said 
Philip affirmed that he had seene Katherin's cows neare 
a mile from the place where Katherin called them. The 
saide Joseph went homewards, and goeing homeward met 
Samuell Bellden ridinge into or downe the meadow. 
Samuel Belden asked Joseph wheather he had seene the 
saide Katherin Harrison & the saide Samuel told Joseph 
aforesaide that he saw her neare the meadow gate, going 
homeward, and allso more told him that he saw Katherin 
Harrison her cows runninge with greate violence, taile on 
end, homewards, and said he thought the cattell would 
be at home soe soon as Katherin aforesaid if they could 
get out at the meadow gate, and further this deponent 
saieth not " Northampton, 13, 6, 1668, taken upon oth 
before us, William Clarke David Wilton. Exhibited in 
court Oct. 29, 1668. Attests John Allyn, Secry. 

Richard Mountagtje — Over the great river to Nabuck — 

The mystery of the swarming bees 

" Richard Mountague, aged 52 years, testifieth as follow- 
eth, that meeting with Goodwife Harrison in Weathers- 
field the saide Katherin Harrison saide that a swarm of 
her beese flew away over her neighbour Boreman's lott 
and into the great meadow, and thence over the greate 



52 The Witchcraft Delusion 

river to Nabuck side, but the said Katherin saide that shee 
had fetched them againe; this seemed very strange to the 
saide Richard, because this was acted in a little tyme and 
he did believe the said Katherin neither went nor used any 
lawful meanes to fetch the said beese as aforesaid." Dated 
the 13 of August, 1668. Hadley, taken upon oath before 
us, Henry Clarke, Samuel Smith. Exhibited in Court, 
October 29 : 68, as attests John Allyn Secretry. 

John Graves — Bucolic reflections — The trespass on his 
neighbor's " rowing " — The cartrope adventure — The 
runaway oxen 

" John Graves aged about 39 years testifieth that for- 
merly going to reap in the meadow at Wethersfield, his land 
he was to work on lay near to John Harrison's land. It 
came into the thoughts of the said John Graves that the 
said John Harrison and Katherine his wife being ru- 
mored to be suspicious of witchcraft, therefore he would 
graze his cattle on the rowing of the land of goodman Harri- 
son, thinking that if the said Harrisons were witches then 
something would disturb the quiet feeding of the cattle. He 
thereupon adventured and tied his oxen to his cart rope, 
one to one end and the other to the other end, making the 
oxen surely fast as he could, tieing 3 or 4 fast knots at each 
end, and tying his yoke to the cartrope about the middle 
of the rope between the oxen; and himself went about 10 
or 12 pole distant, to see if the cattle would quietly feed 
as in other places. The cattle stood staring and fed not, 
and looking stedfastly on them he saw the cartrope of its 
own accord untie and fall to the ground; thereupon he 
went and tied the rope more fast and more knots in it and 



In Colonial Connecticut 53 

stood apart as before to see the issue. In a little time the 
oxen as affrighted fell to running, and ran with such vio- 
lence that he judgeth that the force and speed of their 
running made the yoke so tied fly above six foot high to 
his best discerning. The cattle were used ordinarily be- 
fore to be so tied and fed — in other places, & presently 
after being so tied on other men's ground they fed — peace- 
ably as at other times." Dated August 13th, 1668. Had- 
ley; taken upon oath before us Henry Clarke, Samuel 
Smith. Exhibited in court Oct. 29th, 1668, attests John 
Allyn, Sec. 

Joane Francis — The sick child — The spectre 

Joane Francis her testimony. " About 4 years ago, 
about the beginning of November, in the night just before 
my child was struck ill, goodwife Harrison or her shape ap- 
peared, and I said, the Lord bless me and my child, here 
is goody Harrison. And the child lying on the outside I 
took it and laid it between me and my husband. The 
child continued strangely ill about three weeks, wanting 
a day, and then died, had fits. We felt a thing run along 
the sides or side like a whetstone. Robert Francis saith 
he remembers his wife said that night the child was taken 
ill, the Lord bless me and my child, here is goody 
Harrison." 

Jacob Johnson's Wife — The box on the head — Diet, 

drink, and plasters — Epistaxis 

" The relation of the wife of Jacob Johnson. She saith 
that her former husband was employed by goodman Harri- 
son to go to Windsor with a canoe for meal, and he told 
me as he lay in his bed at Windsor in the night he had a 



54 The Witchcraft Delusion 

great box on the head, and after when he came home he 
was ill, and goodwife Harrison did help him with diet 
drink and plasters, but after a while we sent to Capt. 
Atwood to help my husband in his distress, but the same 
day that he came at night I came in at the door, & to the 
best of my apprehension I saw the likeness of goodwife 
Harrison with her face towards my husband, and I turned 
about to lock the door & she vanist away. Then my 
husband's nose fell a bleeding in an extraordinary manner, 
& so continued (if it were meddled with) to his dying day. 
Sworn in court Oct. 29, 1668, attests John Allyn, Secy." 

Mary Hale — Noises and blows — The canine apparition 
— The voice in the night — The Devil a liar 
" That about the latter end of November, being the 29th 
day, 1668, the said Mary Hale lying in her bed, a good 
fire giving such light that one might see all over that room 
where the said Mary then was, the said Mary heard a 
noise, & presently something fell on her legs with such 
violence that she feared it would have broken her legs, 
and then it came upon her stomach and oppressed her so 
as if it would have pressed the breath out of her body. 
Then appeared an ugly shaped thing like a dog, having 
a head such that I clearly and distinctly knew to be the 
head of Katherine Harrison, who was lately imprisoned 
upon suspicion of witchcraft. Mary saw it walk to & fro 
in the chamber and went to her father's bedside then came 
back and disappeared That day seven night next after, 
lying in her bed something came upon her in like manner 
as is formerly related, first on her legs & feet & then on 
her stomach, crushing & oppressing her very sore. She 



In Colonial Connecticut 55 

put forth her hand to feel (because there was no light in 
the room so as clearly to discern). Mary aforesaid felt a 
face, which she judged to be a woman's face, presently 
then she had a great blow on her fingers which pained her 
2 days after, which she complained of to her father & 
mother, & made her fingers black and blue. During the 
former passages Mary called to her father & mother but 
could not wake them till it was gone. After this, the 19th 
day of December in the night, (the night being very windy) 
something came again and spoke thus to her, saying to 
Mary aforesaid, You said that I would not come again, 
but are you not afraid of me. Mary said, No. The voice 
replied I will make you afraid before I have done with 
you; and then presently Mary was crushed & oppressed 
very much. Then Mary called often to her father and 
mother, they lying very near. Then the voice said, 
Though you do call they shall not hear till I am gone. 
Then the voice said, You said that I preserved my cart to 
carry me to the gallows, but I will make it a dear cart to 
you (which said words Mary remembered she had only 
spoke in private to her sister a little before & to no other. 
Mary replied she feared her not, because God had kept 
her & would keep her still. The voice said she had a 
commission to kill her. Mary asked, Who gave you the 
commission? The voice replied God gave me the com- 
mission. Mary replied, The Devil is a liar from the be- 
ginning for God will not give commission to murder, 
therefore it must be from the devil. Then Mary was again 
pressed very much. Then the voice said, You will make 
known these things abroad when I am gone, but if you 
will promise me to keep these aforesaid matters secret I 



56 The Witchcraft Delusion 

will come no more to afflict you. Mary replied I will tell 
it abroad. Whereas the said Mary mentions divers times 
in this former writing that she heard a voice, this said Mary 
affirmeth that she did & doth know that it was the voice 
of Katherine Harrison aforesaid; and Mary aforesaid 
affirmeth that the substance of the whole relation is 
truth." Sworn in Court May 25, 1669. Attest John 
Allyn, Sec'y. 

Elizabeth Smith — Neighborly criticism — Fortune telling 

— Spinning yarn 

"Elizabeth the wife of Simon Smith of Thirty Mile Island 
testified that Catherine was noted by her and the rest of 
the family to be a great or notorious liar, a sabbath breaker, 
and one that told fortunes, and told the said Elizabeth her 
fortune, that her husband's name should be Simon; & 
also told the said Elizabeth some other matters that did 
come to pass; and also would oft speak and boast of her 
great familiarity with Mr. Lilley, one that told fortunes and 
foretold many matters that in furture times were to be 
accomplished. And also the said Katherine did often spin 
so great a quantity of fine linen yarn as the said Elizabeth 
did never know nor hear of any other woman that could 
spin so much. And further, the said Elizabeth said that 
Capt. Cullick observing the evil conversation in word and 
deed of the said Katherine turned her out of his service, 
one reason was because the said Katherine told fortunes." 
Taken upon oath Sept. 23, 1668 before John Allyn, Assis- 
tant. 

On such evidence, October 12, 1669, the jury being 
called to give in their verdict upon the indictment of 



In Colonial Connecticut 57 

Katherine Harrison, returned that they find the prisoner 
guilty of the indictment. 

But meanwhile important things in the history of the 
case had come to pass. Serious doubts arose in the minds 
of the magistrates as to accepting the verdict, and in their 
dilemma they took counsel not only of the law but of the 
gospel, and presented a series of questions to certain 
ministers — the same expedient adopted by the court at 
Salem twenty-three years later. 

The answer of the ministers is in the handwriting of 
Rev. Gershom Bulkeley of Wethersfield, the author of the 
unique treatise Will and Doom. It was a remarkable paper 
as to preternatural apparitions, the character of evidence 
for conviction, and its cautions as to its acceptance. It 
was this: 

" The answer of some ministers to the questions pr- 
pounded to them by the Honored Magistrates, Octobr 20, 
1669. To ye 1st Quest whether a plurality of witnesses 
be necessary, legally to evidence one and ye same indi- 
vidual fact? Wee answer." 

" That if the proof e of the fact do depend wholly upon 
testimony, there is then a necessity of a plurality of wit- 
nesses, to testify to one & ye same individual fact; & with- 
out such a plurality, there can be no legall evidence of it. 
Jno 8, 17. The testimony of two men is true; that is le- 
gally true, or the truth of order. & this Cht alledges to 
vindicate ye sufficiency of the testimony given to prove 
that individual facte, that he himselfe was ye Messias or 
Light of the World. Mat. 26, 59, 60." 

" To the 2nd quest. Whether the preternatural appari- 
tions of a person legally proved, be a demonstration of 



58 The Witchcraft Delusion 

familiarity with ye devill ? Wee anser, that it is not the 
pleasure of ye Most High, to suffer the wicked one to make 
an undistinguishable representation of any innocent per- 
son in a way of doing mischiefe, before a plurality of wit- 
nesses. The reason is because, this would utterly evacuate 
all human testimony; no man could testify, that he saw 
this pson do this or that thing, for it might be said, that it 
was ye devill in his shape." 

"To the 3d & 4th quests together: Whether a vitious 
pson foretelling some future event, or revealing of a secret, 
be a demonstration of familiarity with the devill ? Wee 
say thus much." 

" That those things, whither past, present or to come, 
which are indeed secret, that is, cannot be knowne by 
human skill in arts, or strength of reason arguing from 
ye corse of nature, nor are made knowne by divine reve- 
lation either mediate or immediate, nor by information 
from man, must needes be knowne (if at all) by informa- 
tion from ye devill: & hence the comunication of such 
things, in way of divination (the pson prtending the cer- 
taine knowledge of them) seemes to us, to argue familiarity 
with ye devill, in as much as such a pson doth thereby 
declare his receiving the devills testimony, & yeeld up 
himself e as ye devills instrument to comunicate the same 
to others." 

And meanwhile Katherine herself had not been idle 
even in durance. With a dignity becoming such a com- 
munication, and in a desperate hope that justice and mercy 
might be meted out to her, she addressed a petition to the 
court setting forth with unconscious pathos some of the 
wrongs and sufferings she had endured in person and 



In Colonial Connecticut 59 

estate; and one may well understand why under such great 
provocation she told Michael Griswold that he would hang 
her though he damned a thousand souls, and as for his 
own soul it was damned long ago. Vigorous and emphatic 
words, for which perhaps Katherine was punished enough, 
as she was adjudged to pay Michael in two actions for 
slander, £25 and costs in one and <£15 and costs in the 
other. 

This was Katherine' s appeal: 

Filed: Wid. Harrisons greuances presented to the court 
6th of Octobr 1669. 

" A complaint of severall greiuances of the widow Harri- 
sons which she desires the honored court to take cog- 
nizance of and as far as maybe to give her relief e in." 

" May it please this honored court, to have patience with 
mee a little: having none to complain to but the Fathers 
of the Commonweale; and yet meetting with many in- 
jurys, which necessitate mee to look out for some releeife. 
I am told to present you with these few lines, as a relation 
of the wrongs that I suffer, humbly crauing your serious 
consideration of my state a widdow; of my wrongs, (wch 
I conceive are great) and that as far as the rules of justice 
and equitie will allow, I may have right and a due recom- 
pence." 

" That that I would present to you in the first place is we 
had a yoke of oxen one of wch spoyled at our stile before 
our doore, with blows upon the backe and side, so bruised 
that he was altogether unserviceable; about a fortnight 
or three weeks after the former, we had a cow spoyled, her 
back broke and two of her ribs, nextly I had a heifer in 
my barne yard, my ear mark of wch was cutt out and 



60 The Witchcraft Delusion 

other ear marks set on; nextly I had a sow that had young 
pigs ear marked (in the stie) after the same manner; 
nextly I had a cow at the side of my yard, her jaw bone 
broke and one of her hoofs and a hole bored in her side, 
nextly I had a three yeare old heifer in the meadow stuck 
with knife or some weapon and wounded to death; nextly 
I had a cow in the street wounded in the bag as she stood 
before my door, in the street, nextly I had a sow went out 
into the woods, came home with ears luged and one of her 
hind legs cutt offe, lastly my corne in Mile Meadow much 
damnified with horses, they being staked upon it; it was 
wheat; All wch injurys, as they do sauor of enemy so I 
hope they will be looked upon by this honored court ac- 
cording to their natuer and judged according to there 
demerit, that so your poor suppliant may find some re- 
drese; who is bold to subscribe." 

" Your servant and supplyant, 

" Katherene Harrison. 
" Postscript. I had my horse wounded in the night, as 
he was in my pasture no creature save thre calves with 
him: More I had one two yeare old steer the back of it 
broke, in the barne yard, more I had a matter of 30 poles 
of hops cutt and spoyled; all wch things have hapened 
since my husband death, wch was last August was two 
yeare. There is wittnes to the oxen Jonathan & Josiah 
Gillert; to the cows being spoyled, Enoch Buck, Josiah 
Gilbert; to the cow that had her jaw bone broke, Dan, 
Rose, John, Bronson: to the heifer, one of widdow Stod- 
der sons, and Willia Taylor; to the corne John Beckly; 
to the wound of the horse Anthony Wright, Goodman 
Higby; to the hops cutting, Goodwife Standish and Mary 



In Colonial Connecticut 61 

Wright; wch things being added, and left to your serious 
consideration, I make bold again to subscribe. 

" Yours, 

" Katherine Harrison." 

At a special court of assistants held May 20, 1670, to 
which the General Assembly had referred the matter with 
power, the court having considered the verdict of the jury 
could not concur with them so as to sentence her to death, 
but dismissed her from her imprisonment, she paying her 
just fees; willing her to mind the fulfilment of removing 
from Wethersfield, "which is that will tend most to her 
own safety & the contentment of the people who are her 
neighbors." 

In the same year, having paid the expenses of her trials 
and imprisonment, she removed to Westchester, New York. 
Being under suspicion of witchcraft, her presence was un- 
welcome to the inhabitants there and complaint was made 
to Governor Lovelace. She gave security for her civil 
carriage and good behavior, and at the General Court of 
Assizes held in New York in October, 1670, in the case of 
Katherine Harrison, widow, who was bound to the good 
behavior upon complaint of some of the inhabitants of 
Westchester, it was ordered, "that in regard there is 
nothing appears against her deserving the continuance of 
that obligation she is to be released from it, & hath liberty 
to remain in the town of Westchester where she now re- 
sides, or anywhere else in the government during her 
pleasure." 



CHAPTER VII 

"Although our fathers cannot be charged with having regarded the 
Devil in his respectful and deferential light, it must be acknowledged, 
that they gave him a conspicuous and distinguished — we might almost 
say a dignified — agency in the affairs of life and the government of the 
world: they were prone to confess, if not to revere, his presence, in all 
scenes and at all times. He occupied a wide space, not merely in their 
theology and philosophy, but in their daily and familiar thoughts." 
Upham's Salem Witchcraft. 

"There are in every community those who for one cause or another 
unfortunately incur the dislike and suspicion of the neighbors, and when 
belief in witchcraft prevailed such persons were easily believed to have 
familiarity with the evil one." A Case of Witchcraft in Hartford (Con- 
necticut Magazine, November, 1899), Hoadley. 

WITCHCRAFT in the Connecticut towns reached its 
climax in 1692 — the fateful year at Salem, Massa- 
chusetts — and the chief center of its activity was in the 
border settlements at Fairfield. There, several women 
early in the year were accused of the crime, and among 
them Mercy Disborough. The testimonies against her 
were unique, and yet so typical that they are given in part 
as the second illustration. 



MERCY (DISBRO) DISBOROUGH 

A special court, presided over by Robert Treat, Gov- 
ernor, was held at Fairfield by order of the General Court, 
to try the witch cases, and September 14, 1692, a true bill 



In Colonial Connecticut 63 

was exhibited against Mercy Disborough, wife of Thomas 
Disborough of Compo in Fairfield, in these words : 

"Mercy Disborough is complayned of & accused as 
guilty of witchcraft for that on the 25t of Aprill 1692 & 
in the 4th year of their Maties reigne & at sundry other 
times she hath by the instigation & help of the diuill in 
a preternaturall way afflicted & don harme to the bodyes 
& estates of sundry of their Maties subjects or to some 
of them contrary to the law of God, the peace of our 
soueraigne lord & lady the King & Queen their crowne 
& dignity." 

" Billa Vera." 

Others were indicted and tried, at this session of the 
court and its adjournments, notably Elizabeth Clawson. 
Many depositions were taken in Fairfield and elsewhere, 
some of the defendants were discharged and others con- 
victed, but Mercy Disborough' s case was the most noted 
one in the tests applied, and in the conclusions to which 
it led. The whole case with its singular incidents is worthy 
of careful study. Some of the testimony is given here. 

Edward Jesop — The roast pig — " The place of Scripture" 
— The bewitched "cannoe" — The old cart horse — Opti- 
cal illusions 

" Edward Jesop aged about 29 years testifieth that being 
at The: Disburrows house at Compoh sometime in ye 
beginning of last winter in ye evening he asked me to tarry 
& sup with him, & their I saw a pigg roasting that looked 
verry well, but when it came to ye table (where we had a 
very good lite) it seemed to me to have no skin upon it & 



64 The Witchcraft Delusion 

looked very strangly, but when ye sd Disburrow began to 
cut it ye skin (to my apprehension) came againe upon it, 
& it seemed to be as it was when upon ye spit, at which 
strange alteration of ye pig I was much concerned however 
fearing to displease his wife by refusing to eat, I did eat 
some of ye pig, & at ye same time Isaac Sherwood being 
there & Disburrows wife & hee discoursing concerning 
a certain place of scripture, & I being of ye same mind 
that Sherwood was concerning yt place of scripture & 
Sherwood telling her where ye place was she brought a 
bible (that was of very large print) to me to read ye par- 
ticular scripture, but tho I had a good light & looked 
ernestly upon ye book I could not see one letter but look- 
ing upon it againe when in her hand after she had turned 
over a few leaves I could see to read it above a yard of. 
Ye same night going home & coming to Compoh it seemed 
to be high water whereupon I went to a cannoe that was 
about ten rods of (which lay upon such a bank as ordi- 
narily I could have shoved it into ye creek with ease) & 
though I lifted with all my might & lifted one end very 
high from ye ground I could by no means push it into ye 
creek & then ye water seemed to be so loe yt I might 
ride over, whereupon I went againe to ye water side but 
then it appeared as at first very high & then going to ye 
cannoe againe & finding that I could not get it into ye 
creek I thought to ride round where I had often been & 
knew ye way as well as before my own dore & had my 
old cart hors yet I could not keep him in ye road do what 
I could but he often turned aside into ye bushes and then 
went backwards so that tho I keep upon my hors & did 
my best indeauour to get home I was ye greatest part of ye 



In Colonial Connecticut 65 

night wandering before I got home altho I was not much 
more than two miles." 

" Fairfield Septembr 15th 1692. 

" Sworn in Court Septr 15 1692. Attests John Allyn, 
Secry." 

John Barlow — Mesmeric influence — Light and darkness 

— The falling out 

" John Barlow eaged 24 years or thairabout saieth and 
sd testifieth that soumtime this last year that as I was in 
bedd in the hous that Mead Jesuop then liuied in that 
Marsey Desbory came to me and layed hold on my fett 
and pinshed them (and) looked wishley in my feass and 
I strouff to rise and cold not and too speek and cold not. 
All the time that she was with me it was light as day as 
it semed to me — but when shee uanicht it was darck and 
I arose and hade a paine in my feet and leags some time 
after an our or too it remained. Sometime before this 
aforesd Marcey and I had a falling out and shee sayed 
that if shee had but strength shee would teer me in peses." 

" Sworn in court Septr 19, 92. Attests John Allyn." 

Benjamin Duning — "Cast into ye watter" — Vindication 
of innocence — Mercy not to be hanged alone 
"A Speciall Cort held in Fairfield this 2d of June 1692. 
"Marcy Disbrow ye wife of Thomas Disbrow of Fair- 
field was sometimes lately accused by Catren Branch ser- 
vant to Daniell Wescoat off tormenting her whereupon sd 
Mercy being sent for to Stanford and ther examined upon 
suspecion of witchcraft before athaurity and fro thnce 
conueyed to ye county jaile and sd Mercy ernestly de- 



66 The Witchcraft Delusion 

sireing to be tryed by being cast into ye watter yesterday 
wch was done this day being examind what speciall reason 
she had to be so desiring of such a triall her answer was 
yt it was to vindicate her innocency allso she sd Mercy 
being asked if she did not say since she was duckt yt if 
she was hanged shee would not be hanged alone her 
answer was yt she did say to Benje Duning do you think 
yt I would be such a fooll as to be hanged allone. Sd 
Benj. Duning aged aboue sixteen years testifies yt he 
heard sd Mercy say yesterday that if she was hanged she 
would not be hanged allone wch was sd upon her being 
urged to bring out others that wear suspected for wiches." 

"Sept 15 1692 Sworn in Court by Benj. Duning attest 
John Allyn Secy 

" Joseph Stirg aged about 38 declares that he wth Benj. 
Duning being at prison discoursing with the prisoner now 
at the bar he heard her say if she were hanged she would 
not be hanged alone. He tould her she implicitly owned 
herself a witch." 

" Sworn in Court Sept. 15, atests John Allyn, Secry." 

Thomas Halliberch— A poor creature " damd" — Tor- 
ment — A lost soul — Divination 

"Thomas Halliberch ye jayle keeper aged 41 testifieth 
and saith yt this morning ye date aboue Samull Smith 
junr. came to his house and sad somthing to his wife 
somthing concerning Mercy and his wifes answer was Oh 
poor creature upon yt Mercy mad answer & sd poor 
creature indeed & sd shee had been tormented all night. 
Sd Halliberch answered her yt it was ye devill her answer 
was she did beleue it was and allso yt she sed to it in ye 



In Colonial Connecticut 67 

name of ye Father Son and Holy Gost also sd Halliberch 
saith yt sd Mercy sd that her soul was damd for yesterdays 
worke. Mercy owned before this court yt she did say to 
sd Halliberch that it was reuealled to her yt shee wisht 
she had not damd her soule for yesterdays work and also 
sad before this cort she belieued that there was a deuina- 
tion in all her trouble." 

" Owned by the prisoner in court Sept. 15, 1692. attest 
John Allyn, Secy " 

Thomas Benit, Elizabeth Benit — "A birds taile" — A 

family difference — "Ye Scripture words" — The lost 

"calues and lams" 

"Thos. Benit aged aboute 50 yrs testifieth yt Mercy 
Disbrow tould him yt shee would make him as bare as a 
birds taile, which he saith was about two or three yrs 
sine wch was before he lost any of his creatures." 

" Elizabeth Benit aged about 20 yrs testifieth yt Mercy 
Disbrow did say that it should be prest heeped and run- 
ning ouer to her sd Elizabth; wch was somtime last winter 
after som difference yt was aboute a sow of Benje. Rum- 
seyes." 

"Mercy Disbrow owns yt she did say those words to 
sd^Elizabeth & yt she did tell her yt it was ye scripture 
words & named ye place of scripture which was about a 
day after." 

"The abousd Thos. Benit saith yt after ye sd Mercy 
had expressed herself as above, he lost a couple of two 
yr old calues in a creek running by Halls Islande, which 
catle he followed by ye track & f ounde them one against 
a coue of ice & ye other about high water marke, & yt 



68 The Witchcraft Delusion 

they went into ye creek som distance from ye road where 
ye other catle went not, & also yt he lost 30 lams wthin 
about a fortnights time after ye sd two catle died som of 
sd lams about a week old & som a fortnight & in good 
liueing case & allso saith yt som time after ye sd lams 
died he lost two calues yt he fectht up ouer night & seemed 
to be well & wear dead before ye next morning one of 
them about a fortnight old ye one a sucker & ye other 
not." 

Henry Grey — The roaring calfe — The mired cow — The 
heifer and cart whip — Hard words — "Creeses in ye 
cetle" 

"The said Henry saith yt aboute a year agou or som- 
thing more yt he had a calfe very strangly taken and acted 
things yt are very unwonted, it roared very strangly for ye 
space of near six or seven howers & allso scowered ex- 
traordinarily all which after an unwonted maner,; & also 
saith he had a lame after a very strange maner it being well 
and ded in about an houre and when it was skined it lookt 
as if it had been bruised or pinched on ye shoulders and 
allso saith yt about two or three months agou he and Thos 
Disbrow & sd Disbroughs wife was makeing a bargaine 
about a cetle yt sd Henry was to haue & had of sd Dis- 
brough so in time they not agreeing sd Henry carried ye 
cetle to them againe & then sd Dibroughs wife was very 
angry and many hard words pased & yt som time since 
about two months he lost a cow which was mired in a 
swampe and was hanged by one leg in mire op to ye gam- 
brill and her nose in the water and sd cow was in good 
case & saith he had as he judged about 8 pound of tallow 



In Colonial Connecticut 69 

out of sd cow & allso yt he had a thre yr old heifer came 
home about three weeks since & seemed to ale somthing 
she lay downe & would haue cast herself but he pruented 
her & he cut a piece of her eare & still shee seemed to be 
allmost dead & then he sent for his cart whip & gave ye 
cow a stroak wth it & she arose suddenly and ran from 
him & he followed her & struck her sundry times and yt 
wthin about one hour he judges she was well & chewed 
her cud allso sd Henry saith yt ye ketle he had of sd Dis- 
brow loockt like a new ketle the hamer stroakes and 
creeses was plaine to be seen in ye cetle, from ye 
time he had it untill a short time before he carried it 
home & then in about a quarter of an hour, the cetle 
changed its looks & seemed to be an old cetle yt had 
been used about 20 years and yt sundry nailes appeared 
which he could not see before and allso saith yt som- 
time lately he being at his brother Jacob Grays house 
& Mercy Disbrough being there she begane to descorse 
about ye kitle yt because he would not haue ye cetle shee 
had said that it should cost him two cows which he tould 
her he could prove she had sed & her answer was Aye: 
& then was silent, & he went home & when he com home 
he heard Thomas Benit say he had a cow strangly taken 
yt day & he sent for his cart whip & whipye cow & shee 
was soon well againe & as near as he could com at it was 
about ye same time yt he tould Mercy he could prove 
what shee sad about ye two cows and allso saith yt as soon 
as he came home ye same time his wife tould him yt while 
Thos Benit had ye cart whip one of sd Henrys calues was 
taken strangly & yt she sent for ye whip & before ye whip 
came ye calf was well." 



70 The Witchcraft Delusion 

John Grummon — A sick child — Its unbewitching — Benit s 

threats — Mercy's tenderness 

" John Grummon senr saith yt about six year agou he 
being at Compo with his wife & child & ye child being 
very well as to ye outward vew and it being suddenly taken 
very ill & so remained a little while upon wch he being 
much troubled went out & heard young Thomas Benit 
threaten Mercy Disbrow & bad her unbewitch his uncles 
child whereupon she came ouer to ye child & ye child 
was well. 

"Thomas Benit junr aged 27 years testifieth yt at ye 
same time of ye above sd childs illness he came into ye 
house wher it was & he spoke to sd John Gruman to go 
& scould at Mercy & tould him if he sd Gruman would 
not he would wherupon he sd Benit went out and called 
to Mercy & bad her come and unbewitch his unkle 
Grumans child or else he would beat her hart out then 
sd mercy imediatly came ouer and stroaked ye child & sd 
God forbad she should hurt ye child and imediately after 
ye child was well." 

Ann Godfree — The frisky oxen — Neighborly interest — 
The "beer out of ye barrill" — Mixed theology — The on- 
bewitched sow 

"Ann Godfree aged 27 years testifieth yt she came to 
Thos Disbrows house ye next morning after it was sd 
yt Henry Grey whipt his cow and sd Disbrows wife lay 
on ye bed & stretcht out her arme & sd to her oh! Ann 
I am allmost kild ; & further saith yt about a year & eleven 
months agou she went to sd Disbrows house wth young 
Thos Benits wife & told Mercy Disbrow yt Henry Greys 



In Colonial Connecticut 71 

wife sed she had bewitcht his her husbands oxen & made 
y jump ouer ye fence & made ye beer jump out of ye bar- 
rill & Mercy answered yt there was a woman came to her 
& reuiled her & asked what shee was doing she told her 
she was praying to her God, then she asked her who was 
her god allso tould her yt her god was ye deuill; & Mercy 
said she bad ye woman go home & pray to her god & 
she went home but shee knew not whether she did pray 
or not; but she sed God had met wth her for she had died 
a hard death for reuileing on her & yt when ye sd Thos 
Benits wife & she came away sd Benits wife tould her yt 
woman yt was spoaken of was her sister and allso sed yt 
shee had heard those words which Mercy had related to 
her pas between Mercy and her sister. Upon yt sd An 
saith she would haue gon back & haue talked againe to 
Mercy & Thomas Benit senr bad her she should not for 
she would do her som mischief and yt night following shee 
sd Ann saith she could not sleep & shee heard a noyse 
about ye house & allso heard a noyse like as tho a beast 
wear knoct with an axe & in ye morning their was a 
heifer of theirs lay ded near ye door. Allso sd An saith 
yt last summer she had a sow very sick and sd Mercy cam 
bye & she called to her & bad her on-bewitch her sow 
& tould her yt folks talked of ducking her but if she would 
not onbewitch her sow she should need no ducking & 
soon after yt her sow was well and eat her meat." That 
both what is on this side & the other is sworne in court. 
" Sept 15, 92. Attests, John Allyn Secy " 

"It has been heretofore noted that during her trial — 
from the records of which the foregoing testimony has been 



72 The Witchcraft Delusion 

taken — the prisoner Mercy Disborough was subjected to 
a search for witch marks by a committee of women, faith- 
fully sworn narrowly and truly to inspect and search. 
This indignity was repeated, and the women agreed 
"that there is found on her boddy as before they found, 
and nothing else." But the accused in order to her further 
detection was subjected to another test of English paren- 
tage, recommended by the authorities and embodied in 
the criminal codes. It was the notorious water test, or 
ordeal by water. September 15, 1692, this test was made, 
chiefly on the testimony of a young girl subject to epileptic 
fits and hysterics, who was carried into the meetinghouse 
where the examination was being held. Thus runs the 
record : 

Daniel Westcotfs " gerle " — Scenes in the meeting house — 
" Ye girl " — Mercy's voice — Usual paroxisme 
"The afflicted person being carried into ye meeting 
house & Mercy Disbrow being under examination by ye 
honable court & whilst she was speaking ye girl came to 
her sences, & sd she heard Mercy Disbrow saying withall 
where is she, endeavoring to raise herself, with her masters 
help got almost up, in ye open view of present, & Mercy 
Disbrow looking about on her, she immediately fel down 
into a fit again. A 2d time she came to herself whilst in 
ye meeting house, & askd whers Mercy, I hear her voice, 
& with that turned about her head (she lying with her 
face from her) & lookd on her, then laying herself down 
in like posture as before sd tis she, Ime sure tis she, & 
presently fell into a like paroxisme or fit as she usually 
is troubled with." 



In Colonial Connecticut 73 

Mercy Disborough, and another woman on trial at the 
same time (Elizabeth Clauson), were put to the test to- 
gether, and two eyewitnesses of the sorry exhibition of 
cruelty and delusion made oath that they saw Mercy and 
Elizabeth bound hand and foot and put into the water, 
and that they swam upon the water like a cork, and when 
one labored to press them into the water they buoyed up 
like cork.* 

At the close of the trial the jury disagreed and the 
prisoner was committed " to the common goale there to be 
kept in safe custody till a return may be made to the Gen- 
eral Court for further direction what shall be don in this 
matter;" and the gentlemen of the jury were also to be 
ready, w T hen further called by direction of the General 
Court, to perfect their verdict. The General Court ordered 
the Special Court to meet again " to put an issue to those 
former matters." 

October 28, 1692, this entry appears of record: 

"The jury being called to make a return of their in- 
dictment that had been committed to them concerning 
Mercy Disborough, they return that they find the prisoner 
guilty according to the indictment of familiarity with 
Satan. The jury being sent forth upon a second considera- 
tion of their verdict returned that they saw no reason to 
alter their verdict, but to find her guilty as before. The 
court approved of their verdict and the Governor passed 
sentence of death upon her." 

The hesitation of the jury to agree upon a verdict, the 
reference to the General Court for more specific authority 

* Depositions of Abram Adams and Jonathan Squire, September 15, 
1692. 



74 The Witchcraft Delusion 

to act, all point to serious question of the evidence, the 
motives of witnesses, the value of the traditional and law- 
ful tests of the guilt of the accused. 

In the search for facts which the old records certify to 
at this late day, one is deeply impressed by the wisdom 
and potency of the sober afterthought and conclusions 
of some of the clergy, lawyers, and men of affairs, who sat 
as judges and jurors in the witch trials, which led them 
to weigh and analyze the evidence, spectral and other- 
wise, and so call a halt in the prosecutions and con- 
victions. 

What some of the Massachusetts men did and said in 
the contemporaneous outbreak at Salem has been shown, 
but nowhere is the reaction there more clearly illustrated 
than in the statement of Reverend John Hale — great- 
grandsire of Nathan Hale, the revolutionary hero — 
the long time pastor at Beverly Farms, who from per- 
sonal experience became convinced of the grave errors 
at the Salem trials, and in his Modest Inquiry in 1697 
said: 

"Such was the darkness of that day, the tortures and 
lamentations of the afflicted, and the power of former 
precedents, that we walked in the clouds and could not 
see our way. . . . observing the events of that sad 
catastrophe, — Anno 1692, — I was brought to a more strict 
scanning of the principles I had imbibed, and by scanning 
to question, and by questioning at length to reject many 
of them." Nathan Hale (p. 10), Johnston. 

But no utterance takes higher rank, or deserves more 
consideration in its appeal to sanity, justice, and humanity, 
than the declaration of certain ministers and laymen of 



In Colonial Connecticut 75 

Connecticut, in giving their advice and "reasons" for a 
cessation of the prosecutions for witchcraft in the colonial 
courts, and for reprieving Mercy Disborough under sen- 
tence of death. This is the remarkable document: 

"Filed: The ministers aduice about the witches in 
Fayrfield, 1692. 

" As to ye evidences left to our consideration respecting 
ye two women suspected of witchcraft at Fairfield we 
offer 

" 1. That we cannot but give our concurrance with ye 
generallity of divines that ye endeavour of conviction of 
witchcraft by swimming is unlawful and sinfull & there- 
fore it cannot afford any evidence. 

"2. That ye unusuall excresencies found upon their 
bodies ought not to be allowed as evidence against them 
without ye approbation of some able physitians. 

"3. Respecting ye evidence of ye afflicted maid we find 
some things testifyed carrying a suspition of her counter- 
feiting; Others that plainly intimate her trouble from ye 
mother which improved by craft may produce ye most 
of those strange & unusuall effects affirmed of her; & of 
those things that by some may be thought to be diabolical 
or effects of witchcraft. We apprehend her applying of 
them to these persons merely from ye appearance of their 
spectres to her to be very uncertain and failable from ye 
easy deception of her senses & subtile devices of ye devill, 
wherefore cannot think her a sufficient witnesse; yet we 
think that her affliction being something strange it well 
deserves a farther inquiry. 

"4. As to ye other strange accidents as ye dying of 
cattle &c, we apprehend ye applying of them to these 



76 The Witchcraft Delusion 

women as matters of witchcraft to be upon very slender & 
uncertain grounds. 

" Hartford Joseph Eliot 

" Octobr 17th 1692 Timothy Woodbridge." 

" The rest of ye ministers gave their approbation to ye 
sum of what is . . . above written tho this could not 
be drawen up before their departure." 

(Above in handwriting of Rev. Timothy Woodbridge.) 
" Filed: Reasons of Repreuing Mercy Desbrough. 
"To the Honrd Gen: Assembly of Connecticut Colony 
sitting in Hartford. Reasons of repreuing Mercy Dis- 
brough from being put to death until this Court had cog- 
nizance of her case. 

"First, because wee that repreued her had power by 
the law so to do. Secondly, because we had and haue 
sattisfying reasons that the sentence of death passed against 
her ought not to be executed which reasons we give to 
this Court to be judge of 

" 1st. The jury that brought her in guilty (which uer- 
dict was the ground of her condemnation) was not the 
same jury who were first charged with this prisoners de- 
liuerance and who had it in charg many weeks. Mr. 
Knowles was on the jury first sworn to try this woman and 
he was at or about York when the Court sate the second 
time and when the uerdict was given, the jury was altered 
and another man sworn. 

u It is so inuiolable a practice in law that the indiudual 
jurors and jury that is charged with the deliuerance of a 
prisoner in a capital case and on whom the prisoner puts 
himself or herself to be tryed must try it and they only 
that al the presidents in Old England and New confirm 



In Colonial Connecticut 77 

it and not euer heard of til this time to be inouated. And 
yet not only president but the nature of the thing inforces 
it for to these juors the law gaue this power vested it in 
them they had it in right of law and it is incompatible and 
impossible that it should be uested in these and in others 
too for then two juries may haue the same power in the 
same case one man altered the jury is altered. 

"Tis the birthright of the Kings' subjects so and no 
otherwise to be tryed and they must not be despoyled of it. 

" Due form of law is that alone wherein the ualidity of 
verdicts and judgments in such cases stands and if a real 
and apparent murtherer be condemned and executed out 
of due form of law it is inditable against them that do it 
for in such case the law is superseded by arbitrary doings. 

"What the Court accepts and the prisoner accepts 
differing from the law is nothing what the law admitts 
is al in the case. 

" If one jury may be changed two, ten, the whole may 
be so, and solemn oathe made uain. 

"Wee durst not but dissent from and declare against 
such alterations by our repreueing therefore the said 
prisoner when ye were informed of this business about 
her jury, and we pray this honored Court to take heed 
what they do in it now it is roled to their doore and that 
at least they be well sattisfied from able lawyers that such 
a chang is in law alowable ere this prisoner be executed 
least they bring themselues into inextricable troubles and 
the whole country. Blood is a great thing and we cannot 
but open our mouths for the dumb in the cause of one ap- 
pointed to die by such a uerdict. 

u 2dly. We had a good accompt of the euidences giuen 



78 The Witchcraft Delusion 

against her that none of them amounted to what Mr. Per- 
kins, Mr. Bernard and Mr. Mather with others state as 
sufficiently conuictiue of witchcraft, namely 1st Confession 
(this there was none of) 2dly two good wittnesses proueing 
som act or acts done by the person which could not be but 
by help of the deuill, this is the summe of what they center 
in as thair books show as for the common things of spec- 
tral euidence il euents after quarels or threates, teates, 
water tryalls and the like with suspitious words they are 
al discarded and som of them abominated by the most 
judicious as to be conuictiue of witchcraft and the misera- 
ble toyl they are in the Bay for adhereing to these last 
mentioned litigious things is warning enof, those that will 
make witchcraft of such things will make hanging work 
apace and we are informed of no other but such as these 
brought against this woman. 

" These in brief are our reasons for repreueing this pris- 
oner. May 12th, 1693. 

" Samuell Willis. 
" Wm Pitkin 
"Nath Stanly. 

" The Court may please to consider also how farr these 
proceedings do put a difficulty on any further tryal of 
this woman." 

All honor to Joseph Elliot, Timothy Woodbridge and 
their ministerial associates; to Samuel Willis, Pitkin and 
Nath. Stanly, level-headed men of affairs, all friends of 
the court called upon for advice and counsel — who gave 
it in full scriptural measure.* 

* Mercy Disborough was pardoned, as the records show that she was 
living in 1707. 



CHAPTER VIII 

"Old Matthew Maule was executed for the crime of witchcraft. He 
was one of the martyrs to that terrible delusion, which should teach us, 
among its other morals, that the influential classes, and those who take 
upon themselves to be leaders of the people, are fully liable to all the 
passionate error that has ever characterized the maddest mob." 

"Clergymen, judges, statesmen — the wisest, calmest, holiest persons 
of their day — stood in the inner circle round about the gallows, loudest 
to applaud the work of blood, latest to confess themselves miserably de- 
ceived." 

"This old reprobate was one of the sufferers when Cotton Mather, 
and his brother ministers, and the learned judges, and other wise men, 
and Sir William Phipps, the sagacious governor, made such laudable 
efforts to weaken the great enemy of souls by sending a multitude of his 
adherents up the rocky pathway of Gallows Hill." The House of the 
Seven Gables (20: 225), Hawthorne. 

" Then, too, the belief in witchcraft was general. Striking coincidences, 
personal eccentricities, unusual events and mysterious diseases seemed 
to find an easy explanation in an unholy compact with the devil. A 
witticism attributed to Judge Sewall, one of the judges in these trials, 
may help us to understand the common panic: * We know who's who but 
not which is witch.' That was the difficulty. At a time when every one 
believed in witchcraft it was easy to suspect one's neighbor. It was a 
characteristic superstition of the century and should be classed with the 
barbarous punishments and religious intolerance of the age." N. E. 
Hist. Towns. — Latimer's — Salem (150). 

MULTIPLICATION of these witchcraft testimonies, 
quaint and curious, vulgar and commonplace, evil 
and pathetic, voices all of a strange superstition, under- 
standable only as through them alone can one gain a clear 



80 The Witchcraft Delusion 

perspective of the spirit of the time and place, would prove 
wearisome. They may well remain in the ancient records 
until they find publicity in detail in some accurate and 
complete history of the beginnings of the commonwealth — 
including this strange chapter in its unique history. 

It will, however, serve a present necessary purpose, and 
lead to a more exact conception of the reign of unreason, 
if glimpses be taken here and there of a few of the state- 
ments made on oath in some of the other cases. 

ELIZABETH SEAGER 

Daniell Garrett and Margaret Garrett — The mess 
of parsnips — Hams' " hodg podg " — Satan's interference 
u The testimony of Daniell Garrett senior and the testi- 
mony of Margarett Garrett. Goodwife Gaarrett saith that 
goodwife Seager sd there was a day kept at Mr. Willis in 
reference to An Coale; and she further sd she was in great 
trouble euen in agony of spirit, the ground as follows that 
she sent her owne daughtr Eliz a Seager to goodwife Hos- 
mer to carry her a mess a parsnips. Goodwife Hosmer was 
not home. She was at Mr. Willis at the fast. Goodm 
Hosmer and his son was at home. Goodm Hosmer bid 
the child carry the parsnips home againe he would not 
receiue them and if her mother desired a reason, bid her 
send her father and he would tell him the reason. Good- 
wife Seager upon the return of the parsnips was much 
troubled and sent for her husband and sent him up to 
Goodm Hosmer to know the reason why he would not re- 
ciue the parsnips, and he told goodman Seager it was 
because An Coale at the fast at Mr. Willis cryed out 
against his wife as being a witch and he would not receiue 



In Colonial Connecticut 81 

the parsnips least he should be brought in hereaftr as a 
testimony against his wife. Then goodwif Seager sd that 
Mr. Hains had writt a great deal of hodg podg that An 
Coale had sd that she was under suspicion for a witch, 
and then she went to prayer, and did adventure to bid 
Satan go and tell them she was no witch. This deponent 
after she had a little paused said, who did you say, then 
good w Seger sd againe she had sent Satan to tell them she 
was no witch. This deponent asked her why she made 
use of Satan to tell them, why she did not besech God to 
tell them she was no witch. She answered because Satan 
knew she was no witch. Goodman Garrett testifies that 
before him and his wife, Goodwife Seager said that she 
sent Satan to tell them she was no witch." 

Robert Sterne, Stephen Hart, Josiah Willard and 
Daniel Pratt — Four women — Two black creatures — 
A kettle and a dance — " That place in the Acts about the 
7 sons " 

" Robert Sterne testifieth as f olloweth. 
"I saw this woman goodwife Seager in ye woods wth 
three more women and with them I saw two black crea- 
ures like two Indians but taller. I saw likewise a kettle 
there over a fire. I saw the women dance round these 
black creatures and whiles I looked upon them one of the 
women G: Greensmith said looke who is yonder and 
then they ran away up the hill. I stood still and ye black 
things came towards mee and then I turned to come away. 
He further saith I knew the psons by their habits or 
clothes haueing observed such clothes on them not long 
before." 



i 



82 The Witchcraft Delusion 

"Wee underwritten do testifie, that goodwife Seager 
said, (upon the relateing of goodwife Garrett testimony, in 
reference to Seager sending Satan,) that the reason why 
she sent Satan, was because he knew she was no witch, 
we say Seager said Dame you can remember part of what 
I said, but you do not speak of the whole you say nothing 
of what I brought to prove that Satan knew that I was no 
witch. I brought that place in the Acts, about the 7 sons 
that spake to the euill spirits in the name of Jesus whom 
Paul preacheth I have forgot there names. 

" Stephen Hart 

" JOSIAH WlLLARD 

" Daniel Pratt." 

Mrs. Migat — A warm greeting, "how doe yow" — "god 

was naught" — "Hell need not be feared, for she should 

not burn in ye fire" — The ghost " stracke" 

M Mrs. Migat sayth she went out to give her calues meat, 

about fiue weekes since, & goodwif Segr came to her and 

shaked her by ye arme, & sd she how doe yow, how doe 

yow, Mrs. Migatt. 

"2d Mrs. Migatt alsoe saith: a second time goodwife 
Segr came her towerds ye little riuer, a litle below ye house 
wch she now dweleth in, and told her, that god was naught, 
god was naught, it was uery good to be a witch and de- 
sired her to be one, she should not ned fare going to hell, 
for she should not burne in ye fire Mrs. Migat said to her 
at this time that she did not loue her; she was very naught, 
and goodwif Segr shaked her by ye hands and bid her 
farwell, and desired her, not to tell any body what shee 
had said unto her. 



In Colonial Connecticut 83 

"3d Time. Mrs. Migat affirmeth yt goodwife Segr 
came to her at ye hedge corner belonging to their house 
lot, and their spake to her but what she could not tell, 
wch caused Mrs. Migatt (as she sayth) to (turn) away wth 
great feare. 

"Mrs. Migat sayth a little before ye floud this spring, 
goodwife Segr came into thaire house, on a mone shining 
night, and took her by ye hand and stracke her on ye face 
as she was in beed wth her husband, whome she could 
wake, and then goodwife Segr went away, and Mrs. Mi- 
gat went to ye dore but darst not looke out after her. 

"These pticulers Mrs. Migat charged goodwife Segr 
wth being face to face, at Mr. Migats now dwelling house." 

" John Talcott." 

Staggerings of the jury — " Shuffing " — " Grinding teeth " — 

Seagers denials — Contradictions — Acquittal 

"Janur 16 1662 

" The causes why half the jury ore more did in their vote 
cast gooddy Seger (and the rest of the jury were deeply 
suspitious, and were at a great loss and staggeringe 
whereby they were sometimes likely to com up in their 
judgments to the rest, whereby she was allmost gone and 
cast as the foreman expressed to her at giuing in of the 
verdict) are these 

u First it did apeare by legall euidence that she had in- 
timat familliarity with such as had been wiches, viz goody 
Sanford and goody Ayrs. 2ly this she did in open court 
stoutly denie saing the witnesses were preiudiced persons, 
and that she had now more intimacy then they themselves, 
and when the witneses questioned with her about fre- 



84 The Witchcraft Delusion 

quent being there she said she went to lerne to knitt; this 
also she stoutly denied, and said of the witneses they 
belie me, then when Mr. John Allen sd did she not teach 
you to knitt, she answered sturdily and sayd, I do not 
know that I am bound to tell you & at another time being 
pressed to answ she sayd, nay I will hould what I haue if 
I must die, yet after this she confessed that she had so 
much intimacy with one of ym as that they did change 
woorke one with another. 3ly she hauing sd that she did 
hate goody Aiers it did appear that she bore her great yea 
more than ordinarily good will as apeared by releeuing 
her in her truble, and was couert way, and was trubled 
that is was discouered; likewise when goody Aiers said in 
court, this will take away my liffe, goody Seger shuffed 
her with her hand & sd hould your tongue wt grinding 
teeth Mr. John Allen being one wittnes hearto when he 
had spoken, she sd they seek my innocent blood; the mag- 
istrats replied, who she sd euery body. 4ly being spoken 
to about triall by swiming, she sagd the diuill that caused 
me to com heare can keep me up. 

"About the buisnes of fliing the most part thought it 
was not legally proued. 

" Lastly the woman and Robert Stern being boath upon 
oath their wittnes was judged legall testimony ore evidence 
only som in the jury because Sternes first words upon his 
oath were, I saw these women and as I take it goody 
Seger wras there though after that he sayd, I saw her there, 
I knew her well I know God will require her blood at 
my hands if I should testifie falsly. Allso bee he sd he 
saw her kittle, there being at so great a distance, they 
doubted that these things did not only weaken & blemish 



In Colonial Connecticut 85 

his testimony, but also in a great measure disable it for 
standing to take away liffe." 

" Walt. Fyler." 
Elizabeth Seager was acquitted. 

ELIZABETH GODMAN 

Of all the women who set the communities ablaze with 
their witcheries, none in fertility of invention and per- 
formance surpassed Elizabeth Godman of New Haven — 
a member of the household of Stephen Goodyear, the 
Deputy Governor. Reverend John Davenport said, in a 
sermon of the time, "that a froward discontented frame 
of spirit was a subject fitt for ye Devill," and Elizabeth 
was accused by Goodwife Larremore and others of being 
in u such a frame of spirit," and of practicing the black arts. 

She promptly haled her accusers before a court of mag- 
istrates, August 4, 1653, with Governor Theophilus Eaton 
and Deputy Governor Stephen Goodyear present; and 
when asked what she charged them with, she desired that 
"a wrighting might be read — wch was taken in way of 
examination before ye magistrate," in May, 1653. The 
"wrighting" did not prove helpful to Elizabeth's case. 
The statements of witnesses and of the accused are in 
some respects unique, and of a decided personal quality. 

" Hobbamocke" — The " swonding fitt" — Lying — Evil com- 
munications — The Indian's statement — " Ye boyes 
sickness " — " Verey Strang fitts " — " Figgs " — M Pease por- 
ridge" — "A sweate" — Mrs. Goodyeares opinion — Ab- 
sorption — Contradictions — Goodwife Thorp's chickens — 
" Water and wormes " 
" Mris. Godman was told she hath warned to the court 



86 The Witchcraft Delusion 

diuers psons, vizd : Mr. Goodyeare, Mris. Goodyeare, Mr. 
Hooke, Mris. Hooke, Mris. Atwater, Hanah & Elizabeth 
Lamberton, goodwife Larremore, goodwife Thorpe, &c, 
and was asked what she had to charge them wth, she said 
they had given out speeches that made folkes thinke she 
was a witch, and first she charged Mris. Atwater to be ye 
cause of all, and to cleere things desired a wrighting might 
be read wch was taken in way of examination before ye 
magistrate, (and in here after entred,) wherein sundrie 
things concerning Mris. Atwater is specifyed wch we 
now more fully spoken to, and she further said that Mris. 
Atwater had said that she thought she was a witch and 
that Hobbamocke was her husband, but could proue 
nothing, though she was told that she was beforehand 
warned to prepare her witnesses ready, wch she hath not 
done, if she haue any. After sundrie of the passages in ye 
wrighting were read, she was asked if these things did not 
giue just ground of suspition to all that heard them that 
she was a witch. She confessed they did, but said if she 
spake such things as is in Mr. Hookes relation she was 
not herselfe. . . . Beside what is in the papr, Mris. 
Godman was remembred of a passage spoken of at 
the gouernors aboute Mr. Goodyeare's falling into a 
swonding fitt after hee had spoken something one night 
in the exposition of a chapter, wch she (being present) 
liked not but said it was against her, and as soone as 
Mr. Goodyeare had done duties she flung out of the roome 
in a discontented way and cast a fierce looke vpon Mr. 
Goodyeare as she went out, and imediately Mr. Goodyeare 
(though well before) fell into a swond, and beside her 
notorious lying in this buisnes, for being asked how she 



In Colonial Connecticut 87 

came to know this, she said she was present, yet Mr. 
Goodyeare, Mris. Goodyeare, Hanah and Elizabeth Lam- 
berton all affirme she was not in ye roome but gone vp 
into the chamber." 

The " Wrighting " 

"The examination of Elizabeth Godman, May 12th, 
1653. 

"Elizabeth Godman made complainte of Mr. Good- 
yeare, Mris. Goodyeare, Mr. Hooke, Mris. Hooke, Mris. 
Bishop, Mris. Atwater, Hanah & Elizabeth Lamberton, 
and Mary Miles, Mris. Atwaters maide, that they haue 
suspected her for a witch; she was now asked what she 
had against Mr. Hooke and Mris. Hooke; she said she 
heard they had something against her aboute their soone. 
Mr. Hooke said hee was not wthout feares, and hee had 
reasons for it; first he said it wrought suspition in his 
minde because shee was shut out at Mr. Atwaters vpon 
suspition, and hee was troubled in his sleepe aboute witches 
when his boye, was sicke, wch was in a verey Strang man- 
ner, and hee looked vpon her as a mallitious one, and pre- 
pared to that mischiefe, and she would be often speaking 
aboute witches and rather justifye them then condemne 
them; she said why doe they provoake them, why doe they 
not let them come into the church. Another time she was 
speaking of witches wthout any occasion giuen her, and 
said if they accused her for a witch she would haue them 
to the gouernor, she would trounce them. Another time 
she was saying she had some thoughts, what if the Devill 
should come to sucke her, and she resolued he should not 



88 The Witchcraft Delusion 

sucke her. . . . Time, Mr. Hookes Indian, said in 
church meeting time she would goe out and come in 
againe and tell them what was done at meeting. Time 
asking her who told, she answered plainly she would not 
tell, then Time said did not ye Devill tell you. . . . 
Time said she heard her one time talking to herselfe, and 
she said to her, who talke you too, she said, to you; Time 
said you talke to ye Devill, but she made nothing of it. 
Mr. Hooke further said, that he hath heard that they 
that are adicted that way would hardly be kept away from 
ye houses where they doe mischiefe, and so it was wth her 
when his boy was sicke, she would not be kept away from 
him, nor gott away when she was there, and one time 
Mris. Hooke bid her goe away, and thrust her from ye 
boye, but she turned againe and said she would looke on 
him. Mris. Goodyeare said that one time she questioned 
wth Elizabeth Godmand aboute ye boyes sickness, and 
said what thinke you of him, is he not strangly handled, 
she replyed, what, doe you thinke hee is bewitched; Mris. 
Goodyeare said nay I will keepe my thoughts to myselfe, 
but in time God will discouer. . . 

"Mr. Hooke further said, that when Mr. Bishop was 
married, Mris. Godman came to his house much troubled, 
so as he thought it might be from some affection to him, 
and he asked her, she said yes; now it is suspitious that 
so soone as they were contracted Mris. Byshop fell into 
verey Strang fitts wch hath continewed at times euer since, 
and much suspition there is that she hath bine the cause 
of the loss of Mris. Byshops chilldren, for she could tell 
when Mris. Bishop was to be brought to bedd, and hath 
giuen out that she kills her chilldren wth longing, because 



In Colonial Connecticut 89 

she longs for every thing she sees, wch Mris. Bishop de- 
nies. . . . Another thing suspitious is, that she could 
tell Mris. Atwater had figgs in her pocket when she saw 
none of them; to that she answered she smelt them, and 
could smell figgs if she came in the roome, nere them that 
had them; yet at this time Mris. Atwater had figgs in her 
pocket and came neere her, yet she smelt them not; also 
Mris. Atwater said that Mris. Godman could tell that 
they one time had pease porridge, when they could none 
of them tell how she came to know, and beeing asked she 
saith she see ym on the table, and another time she saith 
she was there in ye morning when the maide set them on. 
Further Mris. Atwater saith, that that night the figgs was 
spoken of they had strangers to supper, and Mris. God- 
man was at their house, she cutt a sopp and put in pann; 
Betty Brewster called the maide to tell her & said she 
was aboute her workes of darkness, and was suspitious 
of Mris. Godman, and spake to her of it, and that night 
Betty Brewster was in a most misserable case, heareing 
a most dreadfull noise wch put her in great feare and 
trembling, wch put her into such a sweate as she was all 
on a water when Mary Miles came to goe to bed, who had 
fallen into a sleepe by the fire wch vsed not to doe, and 
in ye morning she looked as one yt had bine allmost 
dead. . . . 

"Mris. Godman accused Mr. Goodyeare for calling 
her downe when Mris. Bishop was in a sore fitt, to looke 
vpon her, and said he doubted all was not well wth her, 
and that hee feared she was a witch, but Mr. Goodyeare 
denyed that; vpon this Mris. Godman was exceeding an- 
grie and would haue the servants called to witnes, and bid 



90 The Witchcraft Delusion 

George the Scochman goe aske his master who bewitched 
her for she was not well, and vpon this presently Hanah 
Lamberton (being in ye roome) fell into a verey sore fitt 
in a verey Strang maner. . . . 

" Another time Mris. Goodyeare said to her, Mris. Elze- 
beth what thinke you of my daughters case; she reply ed 
what, doe you thinke I haue bewitched her; Mris. Good- 
yeare said if you be the ptie looke to it, for they intend to 
haue such as is suspected before the magistrate. 

"Mris. Godman charged Hanah Lamberton that she 
said she lay for somewhat to sucke her, when she came in 
hott one day and put of some cloathes and lay vpon the 
bed in her chamber. Hanah said she and her sister Eliza- 
beth went vp into the garet aboue her roome, and looked 
downe & said, looke how she lies, she lyes as if som bodey 
was sucking her, & vpon that she arose and said, yes, yes, 
so there is; after said Hanah, she hath something there, for 
so there seemed as if something was vnder the cloathes; 
Elizabeth said what haue you there, she said nothing but 
the cloathes, and both Hanah & Eliza, say that Mris. 
Godman threatened Hanah, and said let her looke to it 
for God will bring it vpon her owne head, and about two 
dayes after, Hanahs fitts began, and one night especially 
had a dreadfull fitt, and was pinched, and heard a hedious 
noise, and was in a Strang manner sweating and burning, 
and some time cold and full of paine yt she shriked out. 

" Elizabeth Lamberton saith that one time ye chilldren 
came downe & said Mris. Godman was talking to herselfe 
and they were afraide, then she went vp softly and heard 
her talke, what, will you fetch me some beare, will you 
goe, will you goe, and ye like, and one morning aboute 



In Colonial Connecticut 91 

breake of day Henry Boutele said he heard her talke to 
herselfe, as if some body had laine wth her. . . . 

u Mris. Goodyeare said when Mr. Atwaters kinswoman 
was married Mris. Bishop was there, and the roome being 
hott she was something fainte, vpon that Mris. Godman 
said she would haue many of these fainting fitts after she 
was married, but she saith she remembers it not. . . . 

u Goodwife Thorp complained that Mris. Godman came 
to her house and asked to buy some chickens, she said she 
had none to sell, Mris. Godman said will you giue them 
all, so she went away, and she thought then that if this 
woman was naught as folkes suspect, may be she will 
smite my chickens, and quickly after one chicken dyed, 
and she remembred she had heard if they were bewitched 
they would consume wthin, and she opened it and it was 
consumed in ye gisard to water & wormes, and divers 
others of them droped, and now they are missing and it is 
likely dead, and she neuer saw either hen or chicken that 
was so consumed wthin wth wormes. Mris. Godman said 
goodwife Tichenor had a whole brood so, and Mris. Hooke 
had some so, but for Mris. Hookes it was contradicted 
presently. This goodwife Thorp thought good to declare 
that it may be considered wth other things." 

The court decided that Elizabeth's carriage and con- 
fession rendered her " suspitious " of witchcraft, and ad- 
monished her that " if further proofe come these passages 
will not be forgotten." 

The further proof came forth promptly, since in Au- 
gust, 1655, Elizabeth was again called before the court for 
witchcraft, and the witnesses certified to "the doing of 
strange things." 



92 The Witchcraft Delusion 

The Governor's quandary — Elizabeth's " spirituall armour " 

— " The jumbling at the chamber dore" — The lost grapes 

— The tethered calfe — " Hott beare" 

"At a court held at Newhaven the 7th of August 1655. 

" Elizabeth Godman was again called before the Court, 
and told that she lies under suspition for witchcraft, as 
she knowes, the grounds of which were examined in a 
former court, and by herselfe confessed to be just 
grounds of suspition, wch passages were now read, and 
to these some more are since added, wch are now to be 
declared. 

M Mr. Goodyeare said that the last winter, upon occasion 
of Gods afflicting hand upon the plantation by sickness, 
the private meeting whereof he is had appointed to set a 
day apart to seeke God: Elizabeth Godman desired she 
might be there; he told her she was under suspition, and 
it would be offensive; she said she had great need of it, 
for she was exercised wth many temptations, and saw 
strange appearitions, and lights aboute her bed, and 
strange sights wch affrighted her; some of his family said 
if she was affraide they would worke wth her in the day 
and lye with her in the night, but she refused and was 
angry and said she would haue none to be wth her for she 
had her spirituall armour aboute her. She was asked the 
reason of this; she answered, she said so to Mr. Goodyeare, 
but it was her fancy troubled her, and she would haue none 
lye wth her because her bed was weake; she was told that 
might haue been mended; then she said she was not 
willing to haue any of them wth her, for if any thing had 
fallen ill wth them they would haue said that she had bine 
the cause. " 



In Colonial Connecticut 93 

"Mr. Goodyeare further declared that aboute three 
weekes agoe he had a verey great disturbance in his family 
in the night (Eliza: Godman hauing bine the day before 
much discontented because Mr. Goodyeare warned her 
to provide another place to live in) his daughter Sellevant, 
Hanah Goodyeare, and Desire Lamberton lying together 
in the chamber under Eliza: Godman; after they were in 
bed they heard her walke up and downe and talk aloude; 
but could not tell what she said; then they heard her go 
downe the staires and come up againe; they fell asleep, 
but were after awakened wth a great jumbling at the 
chamber dore, and something came into the chamber wch 
jumbled at the other end of the roome and aboute the 
trunke and amonge the shooes and at the beds head; it 
came nearer the bed and Hanah was affraid and called 
father, but he heard not, wch made her more affraide; 
then cloathes were pulled of their bed by something, two 
or three times; they held and something pulled, wch 
frighted them so that Hanah Goodyeare called her father 
so loude as was thought might be heard to the meeting- 
house, but the noise was heard to Mr. Samuell Eatons by 
them that watched wth her; so after a while Mr. Good- 
yeare came and found them in a great fright; they lighted 
a candell and he went to Eliza: Godmans chamber and 
asked her why she disturbed the family; she said no, she 
was scared also and thought the house had bine on fire, 
yet the next day she said in the family that she knew 
nothing till Mr. Goodyeare came up, wch she said is true 
she heard the noise but knew not the cause till Mr. Good- 
yeare came; and being asked why she went downe staires 
after she was gon up to bed, she said to light a candell to 



94 The Witchcraft Delusion 

looke for two grapes she had lost in the flore and feared 
the mice would play wth them in the night and disturbe 
ye family, wch reason in the Courts apprehension renders 
her more suspitious. 

" Allen Ball informed the Court. Another time she came 
into his yard; his wife asked what she came for; she said 
to see her calfe; now they had a sucking calfe, wch they 
tyed in the lott to a great post that lay on ye ground, and 
the calfe ran away wth that post as if it had bine a fether 
and ran amonge Indian corne and pulled up two hills 
and stood still; after he tyed the calfe to a long heauy raile, 
as much as he could well lift, and one time she came into 
ye yard and looked on ye calfe and it set a running and 
drew the raile after it till it came to a fence and gaue a 
great cry in a lowing way and stood still; and in ye winter 
the calfe dyed, doe what he could, yet eate its meale well 
enough. 

"Some other passages were spoken of aboute Mris. 
Yale, that one time there being some words betwixt them, 
wth wch Eliza: Godman was unsatisfyed, the night fol- 
lowing Mris. Yales things were throwne aboute the house 
in a strange manner; and one time being at Goodman 
Thorpes, aboute weauing some cloth, in wch something 
discontented her, and that night they had a great noise 
in the house, wch much affrighted them, but they know 
not what it was. 

"These things being declared the Court told Elizabeth 
Godman that they haue considered them, wth her former 
miscarriages, and see cause to order that she be comitted 
to prison, ther to abide the Courts pleasure, but because 
the matter is of weight, and the crime whereof she is 



In Colonial Connecticut 95 

suspected capitall, therefore she is to answer it at the 
Court of Magistrates in October next." 

In October, 1655, Elizabeth "was again called before 
the court and told that upon grounds formerly declared 
wch stand upon record, she by her owne confession re- 
mains under suspition for witchcraft, and one more is 
now added, and that is, that one time this last summer, 
comeing to Mr. Hookes to beg some beare, was at first 
denyed, but after, she was offered some by his daughter 
which stood ready drawne, wch she had, yet went away in 
a muttering discontented manner, and after this, that 
night, though the beare was good and fresh, yet the next 
morning was hott, soure and ill tasted, yea so hott as the 
barrell was warme wthout side, and when they opened the 
bung it steemed forth; they brewed againe and it was so 
also, and so continewed foure or fiue times, one after 
another. 

" She brought diuers psons to the court that they might 
say something to cleere her, and much time was spent in 
hearing ym, but to little purpose, the grounds of suspition 
remaining full as strong as before and she found full of 
lying, wherfore the court declared vnto her that though 
the euidenc is not sufficient as yet to take away her life, 
yet the suspitions are cleere and many, wch she cannot 
by all the meanes she hath vsed, free herselfe from, ther- 
fore she must forbeare from goeing from house to house 
to give offenc, and cary it orderly in the family where she 
is, wch if she doe not, she will cause the court to comitt 
her to prison againe, & that she doe now presently vpon 
her freedom giue securitie for her good behauiour; and 
she did now before the court ingage fifty pound of her es- 



96 The Witchcraft Delusion 

tate that is in Mr. Goodyeers hand, for her good behauior, 
wch is further to be cleered next court, when Mr. Good- 
yeare is at home." 

"She was suffered to dwell in the family of Thomas 
Johnson, where she continued till her death, October 9th, 
1660." (New Haven Town Records, Vol. ii, pp. 174, 179.) 

NATHANIEL AND REBECCA GREENSMITH 

Nathaniel Greensmith lived in Hartford, south of the 
little river, in 1661-62, on a lot of about twenty acres, 
with a house and barn. He also had other holdings " neer 
Podunk," and "on ye highway leading to Farmington." 

He was thrifty by divergent and economical methods, 
since he is credited in the records of the time with stealing 
a bushel and a half of wheat, of stealing a hoe, and of 
lying to the court, and of battery. 

In one way or another he accumulated quite a prop- 
erty for those days, since the inventory of it filed in the 
Hartford Probate Office, January 25, 1662, after his execu- 
tion, carried an appraisal of <£137. 14s. Id, — including 
"2 bibles," "a sword," " a resthead," and a "drachm, 
cup " — all indicating that Nathaniel judiciously mingled 
his theology and patriotism, his recreation and refreshment, 
with his everyday practical affairs and opportunities. 

But he made one adventure that was most unprofitable. 
In an evil hour he took to wife Rebecca, relict of Abraham 
Elson, and also relict of Jarvis Mudge, and of whom so 
good a man as the Rev. John Whiting, minister of the 
First Church in Hartford — afterward first pastor of the 
Second Church — said that she was " a lewd, ignorant and 
considerably aged woman." 



In Colonial Connecticut 97 

This triple combination of personal qualities soon 
elicited the criticism and animosity of the community, and -v / 
Nathaniel and Rebecca fell under the most fatal of all 
suspicions of that day, that of being possessed by the evil 
one. 

Gossip and rumor about these unpopular neighbors cul- 
minated in a formal complaint, and December 30, 1662, 
at a court held at Hartford, both the Greensmiths were 
separately indicted in the same formal charge. 

"Nathaniel Greensmith thou art here indicted by the 
name of Nathaniel Greensmith for not having the fear 
of God before thine eyes, thou hast entertained familiarity 
with Satan, the grand enemy of God and mankind — and 
by his help hast acted things in a preternatural way be- 
yond human abilities in a natural course for which ac- 
cording to the law of God and the established law of this 
commonwealth thou deservest to die." 

While Rebecca was in prison under suspicion, she was 
interviewed by two ministers, Revs. Haynes and Whiting, 
as to the charges of Ann Cole — a next door neighbor — 
which were written down by them, all of which, and more, 
she confessed to be true before the court. 

(Note. Increase Mather regarded this confession as convictive a proof 
of real witchcraft as most single cases he had known.) 

The Ministers' Account — Promise to Satan — A merry 

Christmas meeting — Stone's lecture — Haynes 9 plea — 

The dear Devil — The corvine guest — Sexual delusions 

"She forthwith and freely confessed those things to be 

true, that she (and other persons named in the discourse) 

had familiarity with the devil. Being asked whether she 



98 The Witchcraft Delusion 

had made an express covenant with him, she answered 
she had not, only as she promised to go with him when 
he called (which she had accordingly done several times). 
But that the devil told her that at Christmas they would 
have a merry meeting, and then the covenant should be 
drawn and subscribed. Thereupon the fore-mentioned 
Mr. Stone (being then in court) with much weight and 
earnestness laid forth the exceeding heinousness and 
hazard of that dreadful sin; and therewith solemnly took 
notice (upon the occasion given) of the devil's loving 
Christmas. 

"A person at the same time present being desired the 
next day more particularly to enquire of her about her 
guilt, it was accordingly done, to whom she acknowledged 
that though when Mr. Haynes began to read she could 
have torn him in pieces, and was so much resolved as 
might be to deny her guilt (as she had done before) yet 
after he had read awhile, she was as if her flesh had been 
pulled from her bones, (such was her expression,) and so 
could not deny any longer. She also declared that the 
devil first appeared to her in the form of a deer or fawn, 
skipping about her, wherewith she was not much affrighted 
but by degrees he contrived talk with her; and that their 
meetings were frequently at such a place, (near her own 
house;) that some of the company came in one shape and 
some in another, and one in particular in the shape of a 
crow came flying to them. Amongst other things she 
owned that the devil had frequent use of her body." 

Had Rebecca been content with purging her own con- 
science, she alone would have met the fate she had in- 
voked, and probably deserved; but out of "love to her 



In Colonial Connecticut 99 

husband's soul" she made an accusation against him, 
which of itself secured his conviction of the same offense, 
with the same dire penalty. 

The Accusation — Nathaniel's plea — " Travaile and la- 
bour " — " A red creature " — Prenuptial doubts — The 
weighty logs — Wifely tenderness and anxiety — Under 
the greenwood tree — A cat call — Terpsichore and Bacchus 
" Rebecca Greenswith testifieth in Court Janry 8. 62. 
" 1. That my husband on Friday night last when I came 
to prison told me that now thou hast confest against thy- 
self let me alone and say nothing of me and I wilbe good 
unto thy children. 

"I doe now testifie that formerly when my husband 
hathe told me of his great travaile and labour I wondered 
at it how he did it this he did before I was married and 
when I was married I asked him how he did it and he 
answered me he had help yt I knew not of. 

"3. About three years agoe as I think it; my husband 
and I were in ye wood several miles from home and were 
looking for a sow yt we lost and I saw a creature a red 
creature following my husband and when I came to him 
I asked him what it was that was with him and he told me 
it was a fox. 

u 4*. Another time when he and I drove or hogs into ye 
woods beyond ye pound yt was to keep yong cattle sev- 
erall miles of I went before ye hogs to call them and look- 
ing back I saw two creatures like dogs one a little blacker 
then ye other, they came after my husband pretty close to 
him and one did seem to me to touch him I asked him wt 
they were he told me he thought foxes I was stil afraid 



100 The Witchcraft Delusion 

when I saw anything because I heard soe much of him 
before I married him. 

"5. I have seen logs that my husband hath brought 
home in his cart that I wondered at it that he could get 
them into ye cart being a man of little body and weake 
to my apprhension and ye logs were such that I thought 
two men such as he could not have done it. 

" I speak all this out of love to my husbands soule and 
it is much against my will that I am now necessitate to 
speake agaynst my husband, I desire that ye Lord would 
open his heart to owne and speak ye trueth. 

" I also testify that I being in ye wood at a meeting there 
was wth me Goody Seager Goodwif e Sanford & Goodwif e 
Ayres; and at another time there was a meeting under a 
tree in ye green by or house & there was there James 
Walkely, Peter Grants wife Goodwife Aires & Henry 
Palmers wife of Wethersfield, & Goody Seager, & there 
we danced, & had a bottle of sack: it was in ye night & 
something like a catt cald me out to ye meeting & I was 
in Mr. Varlets orcherd wth Mrs. Judeth Varlett& shee 
tould me that shee was much troubled wth ye Marshall 
Jonath : Gilbert & cried, & she sayd if it lay in her power 
she would doe hin a mischief, or what hurt shee could." 

The Greensmiths were convicted and sentenced to 
suffer death. In January, 1662, they were hung on " Gal- 
lows Hill," on the bluff a little north of where Trinity 
College now stands — " a logical location " one most learned 
in the traditions and history of Hartford calls it — as it 
afforded an excellent view of the execution to a large crowd 
on the meadows to the west, a hanging being then a popu- 
lar spectacle and entertainment. 



CHAPTER IX 

" They shall no more be considered guilty than this woman, whom I 
now pronounce to be innocent, and command that she be set at lib- 
erty." Lord Chief Justice Mansfield. 

ELIZABETH (CLAUSON) CLAWSON 

The Indictment 

u Elizabeth Clawson wife of Stephen Clawson of Stand- 
ford in the country of Fayrefeild in the Colony of Connec- 
ticut thou art here indicted by the name of Elizabeth 
Clawson that not haueing the fear of God before thine 
eyes thou hast had familiarity with Satan the grand enemie 
of God & man & that by his instigation & help thou hast 
in a preternaturall way afflicted & done harm to the 
bodyes & estates of sundry of his Maties subjects or to 
some of them contrary to the peace of or Soueraigne Lord 
the King & Queen their crowne & dignity & that on the 
£5t of Aprill in the 4th yeare of theire Maties reigne& 
at sundry other times for which by the law of God & the 
law of the Colony thou deseruest to dye." 

The Testimonies 

Joseph Garney — The maid in fits — Joseph's subterfuge — 
" The black catt " — " The white dogg " — Witches three 
" Joseph Garney saith yt being at Danil Wescots uppon 

occation sine he went to Hartford while he was gone from 



102 The Witchcraft Delusion 

home Nathanill Wiat being with me his maid being at 
work in the yard in her right mind soon after fell into a fit. 
I took her up and caried her in & laid her upon the bed 
it was intimated by sum that she desembled. Nathanel 
Wiat said with leaue he would make triall of that leaue 
was granted and as soon as she was laid upon ye bed then 
Wiat asked me for a sharp knife wch I presently took 
into my hand then she imediately came to herself and 
then went out of ye room into ye other room & so out into 
ye hen house then I hard her presently shreek out I ran 
presently to her and asked her what is ye matter, she was 
in such pain she could not Hue & presently fell into a fit 
stiff. We carried her in and laid her upon ye bed and then 
I got my kniffe ready and fitting under pretence of doing 
sum great matter then presently she came to herself e& 
said to me Joseph what are you about to doe I said I 
would cutt her & seemed to threten great matters, then 
she laid her down upon the bed & said she would confess 
to us how it was with her and then said I am possessed with 
ye deuill and he apeared to me in ye hen house in ye shape 
of a black catt & was ernist with her to be a witch & if 
she would not he would tear her in pieces, then she again 
shreekt out now saith shee I see him & lookt wistly & 
said there he is just at this time to my apearance there 
seemed to dart in at ye west window a sudden light across 
ye room wch did startle and amase me at yt present, then 
she tould me yt she see ye deuill in ye shape of a white dogg, 
she tould me that ye deuill apeared in ye shape of these 
three women namly goody Clawson, goody Miller, & ye 
woman at Compo. [Disborough] I asked her how she knew 
yt it was ye deuill that appeared in ye shape of these three 



In Colonial Connecticut 103 

women she answered he tould me so. I asked her if she 
knew that these three women were witches or no she said 
she could not tell they might be honest women for ought 
she knew or they might be witches." 

Sarah Kecham — Caterons seizures — Riding and singing 

— English and French — The naked sword 

The testimony of Sarah Kecham. " She saith yt being 
at Danel Wescots house Thomas Asten being there 
Cateron Branch being there in a fit as they said I asked 
then how she was they sayth she hath had noe fits she had 
bine a riding then I asked her to ride and then she got to 
riding. I asked her if her hors had any name & she called 
out & said Jack; I then asked her to sing & then she sunge; 
I asked her yt if she had sung wt Inglish she could then 
sing French and then she sung that wch they called French. 
Thomas Astin said he knew that she was bewitched I 
tould him I did not beleue it, for I said I did not beleue 
there was any witch in the town, he said he knew she was 
for said he I haue hard say that if a person were bewitched 
take a naked sword and hould ouer them & they will 
laugh themselues to death & with yt he took a sword and 
held ouer her and she laughed extremely. Then I spoke 
sumthing whereby I gaue them to understand that she 
did so becase she knew of ye sword, whereupon Danil 
made a sine to Thomas Austen to hould ye sword again 
yt she might not know of it, wch he did & then she did not 
laugh at all nor chang her countenance. Further in dis- 
course I hard Daniel Wescot say yt when he pleased he 
could take her out of her fits. John Bates junr being 
present at ye same time witnesseth to all ye aboue written. 



104 The Witchcraft Delusion 

"Ye testors are redy to giue oath to ye aboue written 
testimony when called therunto. 
"Staford ye 7th Septembr 1692." 

Abigail Cross and Nathaniel Cross — The " garles 

desembling" — Daniel Wescofs wager — The trick that 

nobody else could do 

(Kateran Branch, the accuser of the Fairfield women, 
was a young servant in Daniel Wescot's household.) 

" The testimony of Abigail Cross as f ollowith that upon 
sum discourse with Danil Wescot about his garles de- 
sembling sd Daniel sd that he would venture both his 
cows against a calfe yt she should doe a trick tomorrow 
morning that no body else could doe. sd Abigail sd to 
morrow morning, can you make her do it when you will; & 
he said yess when I will I can make her do it. 

"Nathaneel Cross being present at ye same time testi- 
fieth ye same with his wife. 

" The above testors say they are redy to giue oath to ye 
aboue written testimony when called to it." 

Sarah Bates — An effective remedy for fits— Burnt feathers 

— Blood letting — The result 

" The testimony of Mrs. Sarah Bates she saith yt when 
first ye garl was taken with Strang fits she was sent for to 
Danil Wescots house & she found ye garle lieing upon ye 
bed. She then did apprehend yt the garls illness might 
be from sum naturall cause; she therefore aduised them 
to burn feathers under her nose & other menes yt had dun 
good in fainting fits and then she seemed to be better with 
it; and so she left her that night in hops to here she wold 



In Colonial Connecticut 105 

be better ye next morning; but in ye morning Danil Wes- 
cot came for her againe and when she came she found ye 
garl in bed seemingly senceless& spechless; her eyes half 
shet but her pulse seemed to beat after ye ordinary maner 
her mistres desired she might be let blud on ye foot in 
hops it might do her good. Then I said I thought it 
could not be dun in ye capassity she was in but she de- 
sired a triall to be made and when euerything was redy & 
we were agoing to let her blud ye garl cried; the reson was 
asked her why she cried ; her answer was she would not be 
bluded; we asked her why; she said again because it would 
hurt her it was said ye hurt would be but small like a 
prick of a pin then she put her foot ouer ye bed and was 
redy to help about it; this cariag of her seemed to me Strang 
who before seemed to ly like a dead creature; after she 
was bluded and had laid a short time she clapt her hand 
upon ye couerlid & cried out; and on of ye garls yt stood 
by said mother she cried out; and her mistres was so 
afected with it yt she cried and said she is bewitched. 
Upon this ye garl turned her head from ye folk as if she 
wold hide it in ye pillar & laughed." The above written 
Sarah Bates appeared before me in Stamford this 13th 
Septembr 1692 & made oath to the above written testi- 
mony. Before me Jonat, Bell Comissr." 

Daniel Wescot — Exchanging yarn — "A quarrill" — The 

child's nightmare 

" The testimony of Daniel Wescote saith that some years 
since my wife & Goodwife Clauson agreed to change their 
spinning, & instead of half a pound Goodwife Clawson 
sent three quarters of a pound I haueing waide it, carried 



106 The Witchcraft Delusion 

it to her house & cnvinced her of it yt it was so, & thence 
forward she till now took occation upon any frivolous 
matter to be angry & pick a quarrill with booth myself & 
wife, & some short time after this carriing ye flex, my 
eldest daughter Johannah was taken suddenly in ye night 
shrecking& crying out, There is a thing will catch me, 
uppon which I got up & lit a candle, & tould her there was 
nothing, she answerd, yees there was, there tis, pointing 
with her finger sometimes to one place & sometimes to 
another, & then sd tis run under the pillow. I askd her 
wr it was, she sd a sow, & in a like manner continued dis- 
turbd a nights abought ye space of three weeks, insomuch 
yt we ware forcd to carry her abroad sometimes into my 
yard or lot, but for ye most part to my next neighbours 
house, to undress her & get her to sleep, & continually wn 
she was disturbd shed cry out theres my thing come for 
me, whereuppon some neighbours advisd to a removal of 
her, & having removd her to Fairf eild it left her, & since 
yt hath not been disturbd in like manner." 

" The aboue testimony of Daniell Wesocott now read to 
the wife of sayd Daniell Shee testifys to the whole verba- 
tum & hath now giuen oath to the same before us in Stand- 
ford, Septembr 12th 1692. 

" Jonatn Selleck Comissr 

" Jonothan Bell Commissionr. 

"Sworn in Court Septr 15 1692 

"As attests John Allyn Secry." 

Abigail Wescot — Throwing stones — Railing — Twitting 
of " fine cloths " 
u Abigal Wescot further saith that as she was going along 



In Colonial Connecticut 107 

the street Goody Clauson came out to her and they had 
some words together and Goody Clauson took up stone 
and threw at her; and at another time as she went along 
the street before said Clausons dore Goody Clauson caled 
to me and asked me what I did in my chamber last Sab- 
bath day night, and I doe affirme that I was not their that 
night; and at another time as I was in her sone Stephens 
house being neer her one house shee followed me in and 
contended with me becase I did not com into her house 
caling of me proud slut what ear you proud on your fine 
cloths and you look to be mistres but you never shal by 
me and seuerall other prouoking speeches at that time 
and at another time as I was by her house she contended 
and quareled with me; and we had many words together 
and shee twited me of my fine cloths and of my mufe and 
also contended with me several other times. 

u Taken upon oath before us Standf ord Septemr 12th 
"Jonatn Selleck Comissionr 
" Jonothan Bell Comissr." 

Abraham Finch — The strange light — " Two firy eies" — 

Cause of the " pricking " 

" Abraham Finch jun aged about 26 years. 

w The deponant saith that hee being a waching at with 
ye French girle at Daniell Wescoat house in the night I 
being laid on the bed the girle fell into a fite and fell crose 
my feet and then I looking up I sawe a light abut the 
bignes of my too hands glance along the sommer of the 
house to the harth ward, and afterwards I sawe it noe mor; 
and when Dauid Selleck brought a light into the room a 
littell space after the French garle cam to hirselfe againe. 



108 The Witchcraft Delusion 

Wee ascked hir whie shee skreemed out when shee fell 
into her fit. Shee answered goodie Clawson cam in with 
two firy eies. 

" Furdermore the deponant saith that Dauid Selleck 
was that same night with him and being laid downe on 
the bed me nie the garle and I laye by the bed sid on the 
chest and Dauid Selleck starte up suddenly and I asked 
wt was ye matter with him and hee answered shee pricked 
mee and the French garle answered noe shee did not it 
was goodie Crump and then shee put her hand ouer the 
bed sid and said give mee that thing that you pricked 
Mr. Selleck with and I cached hold of her hand and found 
a pin in it and I took it away from her. The deponant 
saith that when the garl put her hand ouer the bed it was 
open and he looked very well in her hand and cold see 
nothing and before shee puled in her hand again shee had 
goten yt pin yt hee took from her. 

" This aboue written testor is redy when called to giue 
oath to the aboue written testimony." 

Ebenezer Bishop — Kateran calls for somersaults — Fits 

and spots 

"Ebenezer Bishop aged about 26 years saith on night 
being at Danill Wescots house Catern Branch being in 
on of her fits I sate doen by ye bed side next to her she 
then calling ernestly upon goody Clason goody Clason 
seueral times now goody Clason turn heels ouer head after 
this she had a violent fit and calling again said now they 
are agoing to kill me & crieing out very loud that they 
pincht her on ye neck and calling out yt they pincht her 
again I setting by her I took ye light and look upon her 



In Colonial Connecticut 109 

neck& I see a spot look red seeming to me as big as a 
pece of eight afterwards it turned blue & blacker then any 
other part of her skin and after ye second time of her 
calling I took ye light & looked again and she pointed 
with her hand lower upon her shoulder and I se another 
place upon her shoulder look red & blue as I saw upon 
the other place before and then after yt she had another 
fit. 

"Stamford 29th August 1692 this aboue written testor 
is redy when called to giue oath to ye aboue written testi- 
mony. 

" Hannah Knapp testifieth the same to the above written 
and further adeth that shee saw scraches upon her; and is 
redy to give oth to it if called to it. 

" Both the above sworn in Court Septr 15 1692. Attests 
John Allyn, Secry." 

Samuel. Holly — Singular physiological transformations 

"The testimony of Samuel Holly senour aged aboute 
fifty years saith that hee being at ye house of Danell Wes- 
cot in ye euning I did see his maid Cattern Branch in her 
fit that shee did swell in her brests (as shee lay on her bed) 
and they rise as lik bladers and suddenly pased in to her 
bely, and in a short time returned to her brest and in a 
short time her breasts fell and a great ratling in her throat 
as if shee would haue been choked; All this I judge be- 
yond nature. 

" Danil Wescot testifieth to ye same aboue written and 
further addith yt when she was in those fits ratling in her 
throat she would put out her tong to a great extent I 
consieue beyond nature & I put her tong into her mouth 



110 The Witchcraft Delusion 

again & then I looked in her mouth & could se no tong 
but as if it were a lump of flesh down her throat and this 
ofen times. 

" The testors, as concerned are ready to giue oath to the 
above written testimony if called thereunto. 

"Staford 29 April 1692 

"Sworn in Court Septr 15 1692. 

" Attests John Allyn, Seer." 

"The testimony of Daniell Westcot aged about forty 
nine years saith that som time this spring since his maid 
Catton Branch had fits and with many other strange ac- 
tions in her, I see her as shee lay on the bed at her length 
in her fit, and at once sprang up to the chamber flore 
withouts the helpe of her hands or feete; thats neere six 
feet and I judge it beyond nator for any person so to doe. 

"Sworn in Court Sept 15 1692. 

"Attests John Allyn Secry." 

Inquiry and search — Visions of the young accuser — The 
talking cat — The spread table — The strange woman — 
" Silk hood and blew apron " — " 2 firebrands in her fore- 
head " — " A turn at heels ouer head " 

"Stamford May ye 27th, 1692. 
"Uppon ye information & sorrowfull complainte of 
Sergeant Daniel Wescot in regard of his maide servant 
Katherine Branch whome he suspects to be afflicted of 
witchcraft, under wch sore affliction she hath now la- 
bourd upwards of five weeks, & in that lamentable state 
yeat remains. In order to inquiry & search into (the) 
matter were then psent Major Nathan Golde, Capt. John 
Burr, Capt. Jonothan Selleck, Lieutenant Jonothan Bell. 



In Colonial Connecticut 111 

" The manner of her being taken & handled. 

" Being in ye feilds gathering of herbs, she was seizd 
with a pinching & pricking at her breast; she being come 
home fell a crying, was askd ye reason, gave no answer 
but wept & immediately fell down on ye flooer wth her 
hands claspt, & with like actions continued wth some res- 
pite at times ye space of two days, then sd she saw a cat, 
was asked what ye cat sd she answerd ye cat askd her to 
[go] with her, with a promise of fine things & yt if she 
should goe where there ware fine folks; & still was fol- 
lowed wth like fits, seeming to be much tormented, being 
askd again what she saw sd cats, & yt they toulde her they 
woulde kill her, & wth this menaceing disquieted her 
severall dayes; after yt she saw in ye roome where she lay 
a table spread wth variety of meats, & they askd her to 
eat & at ye table she saw tenn eating, this she positively 
affirmd when in her right minde, after this was exceeding 
much tormentted, her master askd her what was ye matter, 
because she as she sd in her fit run to sundry places to 
abscoude herselfe, she toulde him twas because she saw 
a cat coming to her wth a rat, to fling in her face, after yt 
she sd they toulde her they woulde kill her because she 
tould of it. These sort of actions continued about 13 
days, & then was extremely afflicted with fits in ye night, 
to ye number of about 40ty crying out a witch, a witch, 
her master runing to her askd her what was ye matter she 
sd she felt a hand. Ye next week she saw as she sd a 
woman stand in ye house having on a silk hood & a blew 
apron, after that in ye evening being well composd going 
out of dooers run in again & caught her master abought 
ye middle, he askd her ye reason, she sd yt she meet an 



112 The Witchcraft Delusion 

olde woman at ye dooer, with 2 firebrands in her forehead, 
he askd her what kinde of clooths she had on, answered 
she had two homespun coats, one tuct up rounde her ye 
other down. The next day she namd a person calling 
her goody Clauson, & sd there she is sitting on a reel, & 
again sd she saw her sit on ye pommel of a chair, saying 
Ime sure you are a witch, elce you coulde not sit so & sd 
she saw this person before namd at times for a week to- 
gether. One time she sd she saw her and describd her 
whole attire, her [master]? went immediately & saw ye 
woman namd exactly atird as she was describd of ye per- 
son afflicted. Again she sd in her fits Goody Clauson lets 
haue a turn at heels ouer head, withall saying shall you goe 
first, or shall I. Weel sd she if I do first you shall after, & 
wth yt she turnd ouer two or three times heels ouer head, & 
so lay down, saying come if you will not He beat your 
head & ye wall together & haueing ended these words 
she goot up looking aboute ye house, & sd look shes 
gone, & so fell into a fit." 

Lidia Penoir — "A lying gairl" 

"The testimony of Lidia Penoir. Shee saith that shee 
heard her ant Abigal Wescot say that her seruant gairl 
Catern Branch was such a lying gairl that not any boddy 
could belieue one word what shee said and saith that shee 
heard her ant Abigail Wescot say that shee did not be- 
lieue that Mearcy nor goody Miller nor Hannah nor any 
of these women whome shee had apeacht was any more 
witches then shee was and that her husband would be- 
lieue Catern before he would belieue Mr. Bishop or 
Leiftenat Bell or herself. 



In Colonial Connecticut 113 

"The testor is ready to giue oath to sd testimony. 
Standford, Augt 24th 1692." 

Elezer Slawson — "A woman for pease" — A good word 
"The testimony of Elezer Slawson aged 51 year. 
" He saith yt he liued neare neighbour to goodwife Claw- 
son many years & did allways observe her to be a woman 
for pease and to counsell for pease & when she hath had 
prouacations from her neighbours would answer & say 
we must Hue in pease for we are naibours & would neuer 
to my obseruation giue threatning words nor did I look 
at her as one giuen to malice; & further saith not 

"Eleazar Slason. 
" Clement Buxstum. 
"The above written subscribers declared the aboue 
written & signed it with their own hands before me 

" Jonothan Bell Comissionr." 

In closing the citations of testimony in the Clawson case, 
other performances of Catherine Branch, the maid ser- 
vant of Daniel and Abigail Wescot, are given to empha- 
size the absurdities which found credence in the community 
and brought several women to the bar of justice, to answer 
to the charge of a capital offense. 

An epileptic fit — Muscular contortions — u Talkeing to the 
appearances" — "Hell fyre to all eternity" — A creature 
" with a great head & wings & noe boddy & all black " — 
Songs and tunes — Secular and scriptural recitations — 
" The lock of hayer" 

"June 28th 1692. 
"Sergt Daniell Wescott brought his Mayd Katheren 



114 The Witchcraft Delusion 

Branch to my house to be examined, which was dune as 
is within mentioned, & the sd Katheren Branch being dis- 
mised was gott about 40 or 50 rodd from my house, my 
Indian girl runeing back sayinge sd Kate was f alen downe 
& looked black in the face soe my sonn John Selleck & 
cousen Dauid Selleck went out & f echt her in, shee being 
in a stife fitt — & comeing out of that fitt fell a schrickeing, 
crying out you kill me, Goody Clawson you kill me, two 
or three times shee spoke it & her head was bent downe 
backwards allmost to her back; & sometimes her arme 
would be twisted round the sd Kate cryeing out you break 
my arme & with many such fitts following, that two men 
could hardly prevent by all their strenth the breaking of 
her neck & arme, as was thought by all the standers by; & 
in this maner sd Kate continued all the night, & neuer came 
to her sences but had som litell respitt betweene those 
terible fitts & then sd Kate would be talkeing to the ap- 
pearances & would answer them & ask questions of them 
to manny to be here inserted or remembered. They askt 
her to be as they were & then shee should be well & we 
herd sd Kate saye I will not yeald to you for you are wiches 
& yor portion is hell fyre to all eternity & many such like 
expressions shee had; telling them that Mr. Bishop had 
often tould her that shee must not yield to them, & that 
that daye Norwalk minister tould her the same therefore 
she sayd I hope God will keep me from yielding to you; 
sd Kate sayd Goody Clawson why doe you torment me 
soe; I neuer did you any harme neather in word nor acc- 
tion; sayeing why are you all come now to afflict me. 
Katherine tould their names, saying Goody Clawson, 
Mercy Disbrow, Goody Miller, & a woman & a gail, five 



In Colonial Connecticut 115 

of you. Then she sd Kate spoke to the gail whom she 
caled Sarah, & sayd is Sarah Staples your right name; I 
am aferd you tell me a lye; tell me your rite name; & soe 
uged it much; & then stoped & sayd, tell; yeas I must tell 
my master & Capt. Selleck if they aske me but He tell noe 
body els. Soe at last sd Kate sayd, Hanah Haruy once or 
twice out is that your name why then did you tell me a lye 
before; Well then sayd Kate what is the womans name 
that comes with you;& soe stoped & then sayd tell yeas 
I must tell my master & Capt. Selleck if he askes me, but 
He tell noeboddy els, & sayd you will not tell me then I 
will ask Goody Crumpe;& she sd Gody Crump what is 
the woemans name yt comes with Hanah Haruy; & so 
urged severall times, a then sd Marry Mary what, & then 
Mary Haruy; well sayd Kate is Mary Haruy ye mother 
of Hanah Haruy; & then sayd now I know it seeming to 
reioyce, & saying Hanah why did you not tell me before, 
sayeing their was more catts come at first & I shall know 
all your names; & Kate sayd what creature is that with 
a great head & wings & noe boddy & all black, sayeing 
Hanah is that your father; I believe it is for you are a 
wich; & sd Kate sayd Hanah what is yor fathers name; & 
have you noe grandfather & grandmother; how come you 
to be a witch & then stoped, & sd again a grandmother 
what is her name & then stoped, & sd Goody Staples what 
is her maiden name & then again fell into terrible fits which 
much affrighted the standers by, which were many pesons 
to behould & here what was sd & dune by Kate. Shee 
fell into a fitt singeing songes & then tunes as Kate sd 
giges for them to daunce by each takeing their turns; then 
sd Kate rehersed a great many verses, which are in some 



116 The Witchcraft Delusion 

primers, & allsoe ye dialoge between Christ ye yoong 
man & the dieull, the Lords prayer, all the comand- 
ments & catechism, the creede & severall such good things, 
& then sayd, Hanah I will say noe more; let me here you, & 
sayd why doe I say these things; you doe not loue them & 
a great deale more she sayd which I cannot well remember 
but what is aboue & on ye other syde was herd and seene 
by myselfe & others as I've attest to it. 

" Jonahn Selleck Commissioner." 

" To add one thing more to my relation as is within of 
what I saw & herd, is that som persons atempted to cutt 
of a lock of the sd Kates hayer, when shee was in her fitts 
but could not doe it, for allthough she knew not what was 
sayd & dune by them, & let them come neuer soe priuately 
behynd her to doe it yeat shee would at once turne about 
and preuent it; At last Dauid Waterbery tooks her in 
his armes to hould her by force; that a lock of hayer might 
be cutt; but though at other times a weake& light gail 
yeat shee was then soe stronge & soe extreame heauy that 
he could not deale with her, not her hayer could not be 
cutt; & Kate cryeing out biterly, as if shee had bin beaten 
all ye time. When sd Kate come to herself, was askt if 
she was wileing her hayer should be cutt; shee answered 
yeas — we might cutt all of it we would." 

Elizabeth Clawson was found not guilty. 



> Assistants 



In Colonial Connecticut 117 

HUGH (CROSIA, CROSHER) CROHSAW 

A court of Assistants holden at Hartford, May 8th, 
1693. 

Present. 
Robert Treat, Esq. Governor 
William Joanes, Esq. Dept. Govt. 
Samuel Willis, Esq. 
William Pitkin, Esq. 
Col John Allyn 
Nath. Stanly, Esq. 
Caleb Stanly, Esq. 
Moses Mansfield, Esq. 

Gent, of the Jury are: 

Joseph Bull, Nathaneal Loomis, Joseph Wadsworth, 
Nathanael Bowman, Jonathan Ashley, Stephen Chester, 
Daniel Heyden, Samuell Newell, Abraham Phelps, Joseph 
North, John Stoughton, Thomas Ward. 

And the names of the Grand Jury are: 

Bartholomew Barnard, Joseph Mygatt, William Wil- 
liams, John Marsh, John Pantry, Joseph Langton, Wil- 
liam Gibbons, Stephen Kelsey, Cornelious Gillett, Sam- 
uel Collins, James Steele, Jonathan Loomis. 



The Indictment 

"Hugh Crotia, Thou Standest here presented by the 
Name of Hugh Crotia of Stratford in the Colony of Con- 
necticut, in New England; for that not haveing the fear 
of God before thine Eyes, through the Instigation of the 



118 The Witchcraft Delusion 

Devill, thou hast forsaken thy God, & covenanted with 
the Devill, and by his help hast in a preternaturall way 
afflicted the bodys of Sundry of his Majestie's good sub- 
jects, for which according to the Law of God, and the 
Law of this Colony, thou deservest to dye." 

The arrest — Satan the accessory — An alibi — The confession 

— A contract to serve the devil 

"Fayrfield this 15 Novembor 1692 acording as is In- 
formed that hugh Crosia is complained of by a gerll at 
Stratford for aflicting her and hee being met on ye road 
going westward from fayrfeild hee being met by Joseph 
Stirg and danill bets of norwak and being brought back 
by them to athority in fayrfeild and on thare report to 
sd authority of sum confesion sd Croshaw mad of such 
things as rendar him undar suspecion of familiarity with 
satan sd Crosha being asked whethar he sayd he sent ye 
deuell to hold downe Eben Booths gerll ye gerll above 
intended hee answared hee did say so but hee was not thar 
himself hee answereth he lyed when he sayd he sent ye 
deuell as above. 

"Sd hugh beeing asked whethar hee did not say hee 
had made a Contract with ye deuell five years senc with 
his heart and signed to ye deuells book and then seald 
it with his bloud which Contract was to serve ye deuell 
and the deuell to serve him he saith he did say so and sayd 
he ded so and wret his name and sealed ye Contract with 
his bloud and that he had ever since been practising Eivel 
against every man : hee also sayd ye deuell opned ye dore 
of eben booths hous made it fly open and ye gate fly open 
being asked how he could tell he sayd he deuell apeered 



In Colonial Connecticut 119 

to him like a boye and told him hee ded make them fly 
open and then ye boye went out of his sight. 

"This examination taken and Confessed before au- 
thority in fairefeild before Us Testis the date above 

"Jon. Bur, Assist 
"Nathan Gold, Asist." 

" The Grand Jury upon consideration of this Case re- 
turnd, Ignoramus. . . . 

" This Court do grant to the said Hugh Crotia A Gaol 
Delivery, he paying the Master of the Gaol his just fees 
and dues upon his release and also all the Charge laid 
out on him at Fairfield, & in bringing him to prison. 

ELIZABETH GARLICK 

In 1657, when Easthampton, Long Island, was within 
the jurisdiction of New York, becoming a few months 
later a part of Connecticut, two persons came over from 
Gardiner's Island and settled in the colony, Joshua Gar- 
lick and Elizabeth his wife — whilom servants of the fa- 
mous engineer and colonist Lion Gardiner. 

Stories of Elizabeth's practice of witchcraft and other 
black arts followed her, and despite her attendance at 
church she fell under suspicion, and was arrested, and 
held by the magistrates for trial after hearing various wit- 
nesses. Credulity offers no better illustrations than those 
which fell from the lips of some of the witnesses in this case. 

Tuning a psalm — A black thing — A double tongued woman 
— A doleful noise — Burning the herbs — The sick child — 
Gardiner's ox — The dead ram — Burning " the sow's tale " 
Goodwife Howell, during her illness which hastened 



120 The Witchcraft Delusion 

Elizabeth's arrest, "tuned a psalm and screked out sev- 
eral times together very grievously," and cried "a witch! 
a witch! now are you come to torter me because I spoke 
two or three words against you," and also said, she saw 
a black thing at the beds featte, that Garlick was double- 
tongued, pinched her with pins, and stood by the bed 
ready to tear her in pieces. And William Russell, in a fit 
of insomnia or indigestion, before daybreak, "heard a 
very doleful noyse on ye backside of ye fire, like ye noyse 
of a great stone thrown down among a heap of stones." 

Goody Birdsall "declared y't she was in the house of 
Goody Simons when Goody Bishop came into the house 
with ye dockweed and between Goody Davis and Goody 
Simons they burned the herbs. Farther, she said y't 
formerly dressing flax at Goody Davis's house, Goody 
Davis saith y't she had dressed her children in clean linen 
at the island, and Goody Garlick came in and said, ' How 
pretty the child doth look,' and so soon as she had spoken 
Goody Garlick said, ' the child is not well, for it groaneth,' 
and Goody Davis said her heart did rise, and Goody Davis 
said, when she took the child from Goody Garlick, she 
said she saw death in the face of it, & her child sickened 
presently upon it, and lay five daies and 5 nights and never 
opened the eyes nor dried till it died. Also she saith as 
she dothe remember Goody Davis told her upon some 
difference between Mr. Gardiner or some of his family, 
Goodman Garlick gave out some threateningse speeches, 
& suddenly after Mr. Gardiner had an ox legge broke 
upon Ram Island. Moreover Goody Davis said that 
Goody Garlick was a naughtie woman." 

Goody Edwards testified: " Y't as Goody Garlick owned, 



In Colonial Connecticut 121 

she sent to her daughter for a little best milk and she had 
some and presently after, her daughters milk went away 
as she thought and as she remembers the child sickened 
about y't time." Goody Hand deposed that "she had 
heard Goody Davis say that she hoped Goody Garlick 
would not come to Easthampton, because, she said, 
Goody Garlick was naughty, and there had many sad 
things befallen y'm at the Island, as about ye child, and 
ye ox, as Goody Birdsall have declared, as also the negro 
child she said was taken away, as I understood by her 
words, in a strange manner, and also of a ram y't was 
dead, and this fell out quickly one after another, and also 
of a sow y't was fat and lustie and died. She said they 
did burn some of the sow's tale and presently Goody 
Garlick did come in." 

The settlers held a town meeting, and wisely question- 
ing whether they had legal authority to hold a trial in a 
capital case, they appointed a committee to go "unto 
Keniticut to carry up Goodwife Garlick yt she may be 
delivered up unto the authoritie there for the trial of the 
cause of witchcraft which she is suspected for." The 
General Court of Connecticut took jurisdiction of the 
case, a trial of Goody Garlick was held, resulting in her 
acquittal, and she was sent back to Easthampton, to what 
end is not told in the records of the day. 



CHAPTER X 

"This case is one of the most painful in the entire Connecticut list, 
for she impresses one as the best woman; how the just and high minded 
old lady had excited hate or suspicion, we cannot know." Connecticut as 
a Colony (1 : 212), Morgan. 

"Mr. Dauenport gaue in as followeth — That Mr. Ludlow sitting with 
him and his wife alone, and discoursing of the passages concerning 
Knapps wife, the Witch and her execution, said that she came downe 
from the ladder (as he understood it), and desired to speak with him alone, 
and told him who was the witch spoken of." New Haven Colonial 
Record (2: 78). 

"Shortly after tfiis, a poor simple minded woman living in Fairfield, 
by the name of Knap, was suspected of witchcraft. She was tried, con- 
demned and sentenced to be hanged." Schenck's History of Fairfield 
(1:71). 

"GOODWIFEKNAP" 

THIS was one of the most notable of the witchcraft 
cases. It stands among the early instances of the in- 
fliction of the death penalty in Connecticut; the victim 
was presumably a woman of good repute, and not a com- 
mon scold, an outcast, or a harridan; it is singularly il- 
lustrative of witchcraft's activities and their grasp on the 
lives of the best men and women, of the beliefs that ruled 
the community, and of the crude and revolting practices 
resorted to in the punishments of the condemned, and 
especially since in its later developments it involved in 
controversy and litigation two of the great characters in 
colonial history, Rev. John Davenport, one of the founders 



In Colonial Connecticut 123 

of New Haven, and Roger Ludlow, Deputy Governor of 
Massachusetts and Connecticut.* Goodwife Knapp of 
Fairfield was "suspicioned." That was enough to set 
the villagers agog with talk and gossip and scandal about 
the unfortunate woman, which poisoned the wells of 
sober thought and charitable purpose, and swiftly ripened 
into a formal accusation and indictment. 

Pending her trial the prisoner was committed to the 
house of correction or common jail for the safe keeping 
of "refractory persons" and criminals. 

What terrors of mind and spirit must have waited on 
this "simple minded" woman, in the cold, gloomy, and 
comfortless prison, probably built of rough logs, with a 
single barred window and massive iron studded door, a 
ghost haunted torture chamber, in charge of some harsh 
wardsmen. 

Knapp was duly and truly tried, and sentenced to death 
by hanging, the usual mode of execution. No witch was 
ever burned in New England. 

From the day sentence was pronounced until the hang- 
ing took place, out in Try's field beyond the Indian field, 
in view of the villagers, whose curiosity or thirst for hor- 
rors or whose duty led them there, this prisoner of de- 
lusion was made the object of rudest treatment, espionage, 
and of inhuman attempts to wring from her lips a con- 
fession of her own guilt or an accusation against some 
other person as a witch. 

* Connecticut, through its Commission of Sculpture, in recognition of 
his services to the Colony, is to erect a memorial statue to Ludlow to 
occupy the western niche on the northern facade of the Capitol building 
at Hartford. 



124 The Witchcraft Delusion 

The very day of her condemnation, a self-constituted 
committee of women, with one man on it, — Mistress 
Thomas Sherwood, Goodwife Odell, Mistress Pell, and 
her two daughters, Goody Lockwood, and Goodwife 
Purdy, — visited the prison, and pressed her to name any 
other witch in town, and so receive such consolation from 
the minister as would be for her soul's welfare. 

Mistress Pell seems to have been the chief spokes- 
woman, and each member of the committee served in 
some degree as an inquisitor, or exhorter, not to repent- 
ance, but to disclosures. Baited and badgered, warned 
and threatened, the hapless prisoner protested she was 
innocent, denied the charges made against her, told one 
of the committee to " take heed the devile have not you," 
and also said, "I must not render evil for evil. . . . 
I have sins enough allready, and I will not add this [ac- 
cusing another] to my condemnation." And at last in 
agony of soul she made that pathetic appeal to one of 
her relentless tormentors, "neuer, neuer poore creature 
was tempted as I am tempted, pray, pray for me." 

But even after death on the scaffold, the witch-hunters 
of the day did not refrain from their ghoulish work, but 
desecrated the remains of Goodwife Knapp at the grave 
side in their search for witch marks. 

All the facts during the imprisonment, execution and 
burial are set forth in some of the testimonies herewith 
given, in a chapter of related history (the evidence at the 
trial not being disclosed in any present record), and all 
of them marked by a total unconsciousness of their sinis- 
ter and revolting character. 

No case in the history of the delusion in New England 



In Colonial Connecticut 125 

is more replete in incidents and apt illustrations, due to 
their fortunate preservation in the records of a lawsuit 
involving some of the prominent characters in that drama 
of religious insanity. 

At a magistrate's court held at New Haven the 29th of 
May, 1654. 

Present. 
Theophilus Eaton Esqr, Gouernor. 
Mr. Stephen Goodyeare, Dept, Gouernor. 
Francis Newman ^ 
Mr. William Fowler > Magistrats 
Mr. William Leete J 
a suit was heard entitled — 

Thomas Staplies of Fairfield, plant*. 

Mr Rogger Ludlow late of Fairfield, defendt. 

It was brought by an aggrieved husband to recover 
damages for defamation of the character of his wife. It 
centered in one of the dramatic incidents at Knapp's 
execution. In the last extremity, and in the presence of 
immediate death, the prisoner came down from the ladder, 
and asking to speak with Ludlow alone, told him that 
Goodwife Staplies was a witch. 

Some time afterward Ludlow, at New Haven, told the 
Rev. John Davenport and his wife the story, in confidence, 
and under the promise of secrecy, but it spread abroad 
with inevitable accretions, and when it reached Fairfield 
Thomas Staplies went to law, to vindicate his wife's 
character in pounds, shillings, and pence. These are some 
of the statements and remarkable testimonies: 
Attorney Bankes declaration — Ensigne Bryan's answer — 

Davenport's view of an oath, Hebrews vi, 16 — His ac- 



126 The Witchcraft Delusion 

count and conscientious scruples — Mistress Davenport's 
forgetjulness — " A tract of lying " — " Indian gods " — 
Luce Pell and Hester Ward's visit to the prison — The 
"search" of Knapp — "Witches teates" — Feminine re- 
semblances — Matronly opinions — Post-mortem evidence — 
Contradictions — Knapp' s ordeal — " Fished wthall in 
private" — Her denials — Talk on the road to the u gal- 
lowes " 

" John Bankes, atturny for Thomas Staplies, declared, 
that Mr. Ludlow had defamed Thomas Staplies wife, 
in reporting to Mr. Dauenport and Mris. Dauenport that 
she had laid herselfe vnder a new suspition of being a 
witch, that she had caused Knapps wife to be new searched 
after she was hanged, and when she saw the teates, said 
if they were the markes of a witch, then she was one, or 
she had such markes; secondly, Mr. Ludlow said Knapps 
wife told him that goodwife Staplies was a witch; thirdly, 
that Mr. Ludlow hath slandered goodwife Staplies in 
saying that she made a trade of lying, or went on in a tract 
of lying, &c. 

"Ensigne Bryan, atturny for Mr. Ludlow, desired the 
charge might bee proued, wch accordingly the plant' did, 
and first an attestation vnder Master Dauenports hand, 
conteyning the testimony of Master and Mistris Dauen- 
port, was presented and read; but the defendant desired 
what was testified and accepted for proofe might be vpon 
oath, vpon wch Mr. Dauenport gaue in as falloweth, That 
he hoped the former attestation hee wrott and sent to the 
court, being compared wth Mr. Ludlowes letter, and 
Mr. Dauenports answer, would haue satisfyed concern- 
ing the truth of the pticulars wthout his oath, but seeing 



In Colonial Connecticut 127 

Mr. Ludlowes atturny will not be so satisfyed, and there- 
fore the court requires his oath, and yt he lookes at an 
oath, in a case of necessitie, for confirmation of truth, 
to end strife among men, as an ordinance of God, ac- 
cording to Heb : 6, 16, hee therevpon declares as f ollow- 
eth, 

"That Mr. Ludlow, sitting wth him & his wife alone, 
and discoursing of the passages concerning Knapps wife 
the witch, and her execution, said that she came downe 
from the ladder, (as he vnderstood it,) and desired to 
speake wth him alone, and told him who was the witch 
spoken of; and so farr as he remembers, he or his wife 
asked him who it was; he said she named goodwife 
Stapleies; Mr. Dauenport reply ed that hee beleeued it 
was vtterly vntrue and spoken out of malice, or to that 
purpose; Mr. Ludlow answered that he hoped better of 
her, but said she was a foolish woman, and then told 
them a further storey, how she tumbled the corpes of the 
witch vp & downe after her death, before sundrie women, 
and spake to this effect, if these be the markes of a witch 
I am one, or I haue such markes. Mr. Dauenport vtterly 
disliked the speech, not haueing heard anything from 
others in that pticular, either for her or against her, and 
supposing Mr. Ludlow spake it vpon such intelligenc as 
satisfyed him; and whereas Mr. Ludlow saith he required 
and they promised secrecy, he doth not remember that 
either he required or they pmised it, and he doth rather 
beleeue the contrary, both because he told them that 
some did ouerheare what the witch said to him, and 
either had or would spread it abroad, and because he is 
carefull not to make vnlawfull promises, and when he 



128 The Witchcraft Delusion 

hath made a lawfull promise he is, through the help of 
Christ, carefull to keepe it. 

"Mris. Dauenport saith, that Mr. Ludlow being at 
their house, and speakeing aboute the execution of Knapps 
wife, (he being free in his speech,) was telling seuerall 
passages of her, and to the best of her remembrance said 
that Knapps wife came downe from the ladder to speake 
wth him, and told him that goodwif e Staplyes was a witch, 
and that Mr. Daueport replyed something on behalfe of 
goodwif e Staplies, but the words she remembers not; and 
something Mr. Ludlow spake, as some did or might ouer- 
heare what she said to him, or words to that effect, and 
that she tumbled the dead body of Knapps wife vp & 
downe and spake words to this purpose, that if these be 
the markes of a witch she was one, or had such markes; 
and concerning any promise of secrecy she remembers not." 

"Mr. Dauenport and Mris. Dauenport affirmed ypon 
oath, that the testimonies before written, as they properly 
belong to each, is the truth, according to their best knowl- 
edg & memory. 

w Mr. Dauenport desired that in takeing his oath to be 
thus vnderstood, that as he takes his oath to giue satis- 
faction to the court and Mr. Ludlowes atturny, in the 
matters attested betwixt M' Ludlow & Thomas Staplies, 
so he lymits his oath onely to that pt and not to ye preface 
or conclusion, they being no pt of the attestation and so 
his oath not required in them. 

"To the latter pt of the declaration, the plant' pduced 
ye proofe following, 

"Goodwif Sherwood of Fairfeild affirmeth vpon oath, 
that vpon some debate betwixt Mr. Ludlow and good- 



In Colonial Connecticut 129 

wife Staplies, she heard M' Ludlow charge goodwif 
Staplies wth a tract of lying, and that in discourse she had 
heard him so charge her seuerall times. 

u John Tompson of Fairfeild testifyeth vpon oath, that 
in discourse he hath heard Mr. Ludlow express himselfe 
more then once that goodwif e Staplies went on in a tract 
of lying, and when goodwife Staplyes hath desired Mr. 
Ludlow to convince her of telling one lye, he said she need 
not say so, for she went on in a tract of lying. 

** Goodwife Gould of Fairefeild testifyeth vpon oath, 
that in a debate in ye church wth Mr. Ludlow, goodwife 
Staplyes desired him to show her wherein she had told one 
lye, but Mr. Ludlow said she need not mention ptculars, 
for she had gon on in a tract of lying. 

" Ensigne Bryan was told, he sees how the plantife hath 
proued his charge, to wch he might now answer; where- 
vpon he presented seuerall testimonies in wrighting vpon 
oath, taken before Mr. Wells and Mr. Ludlow. 

" May the thirteenth, 1654. 

"Hester Ward, wife of Andrew Ward, being sworne 
deposeth, that aboute a day after that goodwife Knapp 
was condemned for a witch, she goeing to ye prison house 
where the said Knapp was kept, she, ye said Knapp, 
voluntarily, wthout any occasion giuen her, said that 
goodwife Staplyes told her, the said Knapp, that an 
Indian brought vnto her, the said Staplyes, two litle 
things brighter then the light of the day, and told the said 
goodwife Staplyes they were Indian gods, as the Indian 
called ym; and the Indian wthall told her, the said Staplyes, 
if she would keepe them, she would be so big rich, all one 
god, and that the said Staplyes told the said Knapp, she 



ISO The Witchcraft Delusion 

gaue them again to the said Indian, but she could not tell 
whether she did so or no. 

"Luce Pell, the wife of Thomas Pell, being sworne 
deposeth as followeth, that aboute a day after goodwife 
Knapp was condemned for a witch, Mris. Jones earnestly 
intreated her to goe to ye said Knapp, who had sent for 
her, and then this deponent called the said Hester Ward, 
and they went together; then the said Knapp voluntarily, 
of her owne accord, spake as the said Hester Ward hath 
testifyed, word by word; and the said Mris. Pell further 
saith, that she being one of ye women that was required 
by the court to search the said Knapp before she was 
condemned, & then Mris. Jones presed her, the said 
Knapp, to confess whether ther were any other that were 
witches, because goodwife goodwife Basset, when she was 
condemned, said there was another witch in Fairefeild 
that held her head full high, and then the said goodwife 
Knapp stepped a litle aside, and told her, this deponent, 
goodwife Basset ment not her; she ^sked her whom she 
ment, and she named goodwife Staplyes, and then vttered 
the same speeches as formerly conerning ye Indian gods, 
and that goodwife Staplyes her sister Martha told the said 
goodwife Knapp, that her sister Staplyes stood by her, 
by the fire in there house, and she called to her, sister, 
sister, and she would not answer, but she, the said Martha, 
strucke at her and then she went away, and ye next day 
she asked her sister, and she said she was not there; and 
Mris. Ward doth also testify wth Mris. Pell, that the said 
Knapp said the same to her; and the said Mris. Pell saith, 
that aboute two dayes after the search afforesaid, she 
went to ye said Knapp in prison house, and the said Knapp 



In Colonial Connecticut 131 

said to her, I told you a thing the other day, and goodman 
Staplies had bine wth her and threatened her, that she 
had told some thing of his wife that would bring his wiues 
name in question, and this deponent she told no body of 
it but her husband, & she was much moued at it. 

"Elizabeth Brewster being sworne, deposeth and saith, 
that after goodwife Knap was executed, as soone as she 
was cut downe, she, the said Knapp, being caried to the 
graue side, goodwife Staplyes wth some other women 
went to search the said Knapp, concerning findeing out 
teats, and goodwife Staplyes handled her verey much, 
and called to goodwife Lockwood, and said, these were no 
witches teates, but such as she herselfe had, and other 
women might haue the same, wringing her hands and 
takeing ye Lords name in her mouth, and said, will you 
say these were witches teates, they were not, and called 
vpon goodwife Lockwood to come & see them; then this 
deponent desired goodwife Odell to come & see, for she 
had bine vpon her oath when she found the teates, and 
she, this depont, desired the said Odill to come and clere 
it to goodwife Staplies; goodwife Odill would not come; 
then the said Staplies still called vpon goodwife Lockwood 
to come, will you say these are witches teates, I, sayes the 
said Staplies, haue such myselfe, and so haue you if you 
search yorselfe; goodwife Lockwood reply ed, if I had such, 
she would be hanged; would you, sayes Staplies, yes, saith 
Lockwood, and deserve it; and the said Staplies handeled 
the said teates very much, and pulled them wth her fin- 
gers, and then goodwife Odill came neere, and she, the 
said Staplies, still questioning, the said Odill told her no 
honest woman had such, and then all the women rebuking 



132 The Witchcraft Delusion 

her and said they were witches teates, and the said Sta- 
plies yeilded it. 

"Mary Brewster being sworn & deposed, saith as fol- 
loweth, that she was present after the execution of ye said 
Knapp, and she being brought to the graue side, she saw 
goodwife Staplyes pull the teates that were found aboute 
goodwife Knapp, and was verey earnest to know whether 
those were witches teates wch were found aboute her, 
the said Knapp, wn the women searched her, and the said 
Staplyes pulled them as though she would haue pulled 
them of, and prsently she, ths depont, went away, as 
hauing no desire to looke vpon them. 

"Susan Lockwood, wife of Robert Lockwood, being 
sworne & examined saith as foil, that she was at the 
execution of goodwife Knapp that was hanged for a witch, 
and after the said Knapp was cut downe and brought to 
the graue, goodwife Staplyes, wth other women, looked 
after the teates that the women spake of appointed by 
the magistrats, and the said goodwife Staplies was handling 
of her where the teates were, and the said Staplies stood 
vp and called three or f oure times and bid me come looke 
of them, & asked her whether she would say they were 
teates, and she made this answer, no matter whether 
there were teates or no, she had teates and confessed she 
was a witch, that was sufficient; if these be teates, here 
are no more teates then I myselfe haue, or any other 
women, or you either if you would search yor body; this 
depont saith she said, I know not what you haue, but for 
herselfe, if any finde any such things aboute me, I de- 
served to be hanged as she was, and yet afterward she, 
the said Staplyes, stooped downe againe and handled her, 






In Colonial Connecticut 133 

ye said Knapp, verey much, about ye place where the 
teates were, and seuerall of ye women cryed her downe, 
and said they were teates, and then she, the said Staplyes, 
yeilded, & said verey like they might be teates. 

"Thomas Sheruington & Christopher Combstocke & 
goodwife Baldwine were all together at the prison house 
where goodwife Knapp was, and ye said goodwife Baldwin 
asked her whether she, the said Knapp, knew of any other, 
and she said there were some, or one, that had receiued 
Indian gods that were very bright; the said Baldwin asked 
her how she could tell, if she were not a witch herselfe, 
and she said the party told her so, and her husband was 
witnes to it; and to this they were all sworne & doe de- 
pose. 

" Rebecka Hull, wife of Cornelius Hull, being sworne & 
examined, deposeth & saith as f olloweth, that when good- 
wife Knapp was goeing to execution, Mr. Ludlow, and 
her father Mr. Jones, pressing the said Knapp to confess 
that she was a witch, vpon wch goodwife Staplies said, 
why should she, the said Knapp, confess that wch she 
was not, and after she, the said goodwife Staplyes, had 
said so, on that stood by, why should she say so, she the 
said Staplyes replyed, she made no doubt if she the said 
Knapp were one, she would confess it. 

"Deborah Lockwood, of the age of 17 or thereaboute, 
sworne & examined, saith as followeth, that she being 
present when goodwife Knapp was goeing to execution, 
betweene Tryes & the mill, she heard goodwife Staplyes 
say to goodwife Gould, she was pswaded goodwife Knapp 
was no witch; goodwife Gould said, sister Staplyes, she 
is a witch, & hath confessed had had familiarity wth the 



134 The Witchcraft Delusion 

DeuilL Staplies replyed, I was wth her yesterday, or last 
night, and she said no such thing as she heard. 

"Aprill 26th, 1654. 

" Bethia Brandish, of the age of sixteene or thereaboutes, 
maketh oath, as they were goeing to execution of goodwife 
Knapp, who was condemned for a witch by the court & 
jury at Fairfeild, there being present herselfe & Deborah 
Lockwood and Sarah Cable, she heard goodwife Staplyes 
say, that she thought the said goodwife Knapp was no 
witch, and goodwife Gould presently reproued her for it." 
"Witnes 

" Andrew Warde, 

u Jurat' die & anno prdicto, 

"Coram me, Ro Ludlowe. 

"The plant' replyed that he had seuerall other wit- 
nesses wch he thought would cleere the matters in ques- 
tion, if the court please to heare them, wch being granted, 
he first presented a testimony of goodwife Whitlocke of 
Fairfeild, vpon oath taken before Mr. Fowler at Millford, 
the 27th of May, 1654, wherein she saith, that concerning 
goodwife Staplyes speeches at the execution of goodwife 
Knapp, she being present & next to goody Staplyes when 
they were goeing to put the dead corpes of goodwife Knapp 
into the graue, seuerall women were looking for the markes 
of a witch vpon the dead body, and seuerall of the women 
said they could finde none, & this depont said, nor I; and 
she heard goodwife Staplyes say, nor I; then came one 
that had searched the said witch, & shewed them the 
markes that were vpon her, and said what are these; and 
then this depont heard goodwife Staplyes say she never 
saw such in all her life, and that she was pswaded that no 



In Colonial Connecticut 135 

honest woman had such things as those were; and the dead 
corps being then prsently put into the graue, goodwife 
Staplyes & myselfe came imediately away together vnto 
the towne, from the place of execution. 

" Goodwife Barlow of Fairf eild before the court did now 
testify vpon oath, that when Knapps wife was hanged and 
ready to be buried, she desired to see the markes of a 
witch and spake to one of her neighbours to goe wth her, 
and they looked but found them not; then goodwife 
Staplyes came to them, and one or two more, goodwife 
Stapyleyes kneeled downe by them, and they all looked 
but found ym not, & said they saw nothing but what is 
comon to other women, but after they found them they 
all wondered, and goodwife Staplyes in pticular, and said 
they neuer saw such things in their life before, so they 
went away. 

"The wife of John Tompson of Fairefeild testifyeth 
vpon oath, that goodwife Whitlock, goodwife Staplyes and 
herselfe, were at the graue and desired to see ye markes 
of the witch that was hanged, they looked but found them 
not at first, then the midwife came & shewed them, good- 
wife Staplyes said she neuer saw such, and she beleeved no 
honest woman had such. 

" Goodwife Sherwood of Fairefeild testifyeth vpon oath, 
that that day Knapps wife was condemned for a witch, 
she was there to see her, all being gone forth but good- 
wife Odill and her selfe, then their came in Mris. Pell and 
her two daughters, Elizabeth & Mary, goody Lockwood 
and goodwife Purdy; Mris. Pell told Knapps wife she was 
sent to speake to her, to haue her confess that for wch she 
was condemned, and if she knew any other to be a witch 



136 The Witchcraft Delusion 

to discover them, and told her, before she was condemned 
she might thinke it would be a meanes to take away her 
life, but now she must dye, and therefore she should dis- 
couer all, for though she and her family by the providence 
of God had brought in nothing against her, yet ther was 
many witnesses came in against her, and she was cast by 
the jury & godly magistrats hauing found her guilty, and 
that the last evidence cast the cause. So the next day she 
went in againe to see the witch wth other neighbours, 
there was Mr. Jones, Mris. Pell & her two daughters, 
Mris. Ward and goodwife Lockwood, where she heard 
Mris. Pell desire Knapps wife to lay open herselfe, and 
make way for the minister to doe her good; her daughter 
Elizabeth bid her doe as the witch at the other towne did, 
that is, discouer all she knew to be witches. Goodwife 
Knapp said she must not say anything wch is not true, 
she must not wrong any body, and what had bine said to 
her in private, before she went out of the world, when she 
was vpon the ladder, she would reveale to Mr. Ludlow or 
ye minister. Elizabeth Bruster said, if you keepe it a 
litle longer till you come to the ladder, the diuill will haue 
you quick, if you reveale it not till then. Good: Knapp 
replyed, take heed the devile haue not you, for she could 
not tell how soone she might be her companyon, and added, 
the truth is you would haue me say that goodwife Staplyes 
is a witch, but I haue sinns enough to answer for allready, 
and I hope I shall not add to my condemnation; I know 
nothing by goodwife Staplyes, and I hope she is an honest 
woman. Then goodwife Lockwood said, goodwife Knapp 
what ayle you; goodman Lyon, I pray speake, did you 
heare vs name goodwif Staplyes name since we came here; 



In Colonial Connecticut 137 

Lyon wished her to haue a care what she said and not 
breed difference betwixt neighbours after she was gone; 
Knapp replyed, goodman Lyon hold yor tongue, you 
know not what I know, I haue ground for what I say, I 
haue bine fished wthall in private more then you are aware 
of; I apprehend goodwife Staples hath done me some 
wrong in her testimony, but I must not render euill for 
euill. Then this depont spake to goody Knapp, wishing 
her to speake wth the jury, for she apprehended goodwife 
Staplyes witnessed nothing contrary to other witnesses, 
and she supposed they would informe her that the last 
evidence did not cast ye cause; she reply ed that she had 
bine told so wthin this halfe houre, & desired Mr. Jones 
and herself e to stay and the rest to depart, that she might 
speake wth vs in private, and desired me to declare to 
Mr. Jones what they said against goodwife Staplyes the 
day before, but she told her she heard not goodwife Sta- 
plyes named, but she knew nothing of that nature; she 
desired her to declare her minde fully to M' Jones, so she 
went away. 

" Further this depont saith, that comeing into the house 
where the witch was kept, she found onely the wardsman 
and goodwife Baldwine, there goodwife Baldwin whispered 
her in the eare and said to her that goodwife Knapp told 
her that a woman in ye towne was a witch and would be 
hanged wthin a twelue moneth, and would confess her- 
selfe a witch and cleere her that she was none, and that 
she asked her how she knew she was a witch, and she 
told her she had reeived Indian gods of an Indian, wch 
are shining things, wch shine lighter then the day. Then 
this depont asked goodwife Knapp if she had said so, and 



138 The Witchcraft Delusion 

she denyed it; goodwife Baldwin affirmed she did, but 
Knapps wife againe denyed it and said she knowes no 
woman in the towne that is a witch, nor any woman that 
hath received Indian gods, but she said there was an In- 
dian at a womans house and offerred her a coople of shin- 
ing things, but she woman neuer told her she tooke them, 
but was afraide and ran away, and she knowes not that 
the woman euer tooke them. Goodwife desired this de- 
pont to goe out and speake wth the wardsmen; Thomas 
Shervington, who was one of them, said hee remembred 
not that Knapps wife said a woman in the towne was a 
witch and would be hanged, but spake something of shin- 
ing things, but Kester, Mr. Pells man, being by said, but 
I remember; and as they were goeing to the graue, good- 
wife Staplyes said, it was long before she could beleeve 
this poore woman was a witch, or that their were any 
witches, till the word of God convinced her, wch saith, thou 
shalt not suffer a witch to liue. 

u Thomas Lyon of Fairf eild testifyeth vpon oath, taken 
before Mr. Fowler, the 27th May, 1654, that he being set 
by authority to watch wth Knapps wife, there came in 
Mris. Pell, Mrs. Ward, goodwife Lockwood, and Mris. 
Pells two daughters ; the fell into some discourse, that good- 
wife Knapp should say to them in private wch goodwife 
Knapp would not owne, but did seeme to be much troubled 
at them and said, the truth is you would haue me to say 
that goodwife Staplyes is a witch; I haue sinnes enough 
allready, I will not add this to my condemnation, I know 
no such thing by her, I hope she is an honest woman; then 
goodwife Lockwood caled to mee and asked whether they 
had named goodwife Staplyes, so I spake to goodwife 



In Colonial Connecticut 139 

Knapp to haue a care what she said, that she did not make 
diff errence amongst her neighbours when she was gon, and 
I told her that I hoped they were her frends and desired her 
soules good, and not to accuse any out of envy, or to that 
effect; Knapps wife said, goodman Lyon hold yor tongue, 
you know not so much as I doe, you know not what hath 
bine said to me in private; and after they was gon, of her 
owne accord, betweene she & I, goody Knapp said she 
knew nothing against goodwif e Staplyes of being a witch. 

" Goodwif e Gould of Fairf eild testifyeth vpon oath, that 
goodwife Sherwood & herselfe came in to see the witch, 
there was one before had bine speaking aboute some sus- 
picious words of one in the towne, this depont wished her 
if she knew anything vpon good ground she would declare 
it, if not, that she would take heede that the deuill pswaded 
her not to sow malicious seed to doe hurt when she was 
dead, yet wished her to speake the truth if she knew any- 
thing by any pson; she said she knew nothing but vpon 
suspicion by the rumours she heares; this depont told her 
she was now to dye, and therefore she should deale truly; 
she burst forth ito weeping and desired me to pray for her, 
and said I knew not how she was tempted; neuer, neuer 
poore creature was tempted as I am tempted, pray, pray 
for me. Further this depont saith, as they were goeing 
to ye graue, Mr. Buckly, goodwife Sherwood, goodwife 
Staplye and myself e, goodwife Staplyes was next me, she 
said it was a good while before she could beleeue this 
woman was a witch, and that she could not beleue a good 
while that there were any witches, till she went to ye word 
of God, and then she was convinced, and as she remem- 
bers, goodwife Stapleyes went along wth her all the way 



140 The Witchcraft Delusion 

till they came at ye gallowes. Further this deponent saith, 
that Mr. Jones some time since that Knapps wife was con- 
demned, did tell her, and that wth a very cherefull coun- 
tenance & blessing God for it, that Knapps wife had 
cleered one in ye towne, & said you know who I meane 
sister Staplyes, blessed be God for it." 

Staplies' wife was a character. She was "a light 
woman " from the night of her memorable ride with Tom 
Tash, to Jemeaco, Long Island, to the suspicion of her- 
self as a witch, and the "repairing" of her name by 
Thomas' lawsuit, and her own indictment for familiarity 
with Satan some years later. That she had many of the 
traditional witch qualities, and was something of a gym- 
nast and hypnotist, is written in the vivid recollections of 
Tash's experience with her. This was his account of it 
on oath thirty years after: 

" John Tash aged about sixty four or thareabouts saith 
he being at Master Laueridges at Newtown on Long Island 
aboutt thirty year since Goodman Owen and Goody Owin 
desired me to goe with Thomas Stapels wiffe of Fairfield 
to Jemeaco on Long Island to the hous of George Woolsy 
and as we war going along we cam to a durty slow and 
thar the hors blundred in the slow and I mistrusted that 
she the said Goody Stapels was off the hors and I was 
troubiled in my mind very much soe as I cam back I 
thought I would tak better noatis how it was and when I 
cam to the slow abovesaid I put on the hors prity sharp 
and then I put my hand behind me and felt for her and 
she was not upon the hors and as soon as we war out of the 
slow she was on the hors behind me boath going and com- 
ing and when I cam home I told thes words to Master 









In Colonial Connecticut 141 

Leveredg that she was a light woman as I judged and I am 
redy to give oath to this when leagaly caled tharunto as 
witnes my hand. 

his 

w John+Tash 

mark 

"Grenwich July 12, 1692. 

" John Tash hath given oath to his testimony abovesaid 
" Before me John Renels Comessener." 

And Mistress Staplies had other qualities, always po- 
tent in small communities to invite criticism and dislike. 
She was a shrewd and shrewish woman, impatient of some 
of the Puritan social standards and of the laws of every- 
day life. She openly condemned certain common morali- 
ties, was reckless in criticism of her neighbors, and quar- 
reled with Ludlow about some church matters. 

It is evident from the testimonies that Staplies was on 
both sides as to the guilt of goodwife Knapp, and when 
rumor and suspicion began to point to herself as a mis- 
chief-maker and busybody in witchcraft matters, to divert 
attention from his wife and set a backfire to the sweep 
of public opinion, Thomas sued Ludlow, and despite his 
strong and clear defense as shown on the record evidence, 
the court in his absence awarded damages against him for 
defamation and for charging Staplies' wife with going on 
"in a tract of lying," "in reparation of his wife's name" 
as the judgment reads. Mistress Staplies did not grow 
in grace, or in the graces of her neighbors, since some years 
later she was indicted for witchcraft, tried, and acquitted 
with others, at Fairfield, in 1692* 

*See Historical Note, p. 161. 



CHAPTER XI 

"The planters of New England were Englishmen, not exempt from 
English prejudices in favor of English institutions, laws and usages. . . 
They had not been taught to question the wisdom or the humanity of 
English cri min al law. They were as unconscious of its barbarism, as 
were the parliaments which had enacted or the courts which dispensed 
it." Blue Laws, True and False (p. 15), J. Hammond Trumbull. 

" It would seem a marvellous panic, this that shook the rugged reasoners 
in its iron grasp, and led to such insanity as this displayed toward Alse 
Young, did we not know that it was but the result of a normal inhuman 
law confirmed by a belief in the divine, the direct legacy of England, the 
unquestionable utterance of Church and State." One Blank of Windsor, 
Annie Eliot Trumbull. 



THIS brief review of witchcraft in some of its historical 
aspects, of its spread to the New England colonies, 
of its rise and suppression in the Connecticut towns, with 
the citations from the original records which admit no 
challenge of the facts, may be aptly closed by what is be- 
lieved to be a complete list of the Connecticut witchcraft 
cases, authenticated by conclusive evidence of time, place, 
incident, and circumstance. 

Some minor questions may be put, or kept in contro- 
versy, as one writer or another, who regards history as a 
matter of opinion, not of fact, and relying on tradition or 
hearsay evidence or on superficial investigation, gives a 
place to guesswork instead of truth, to historical conceits 
instead of historical verities. 



In Colonial Connecticut 143 

A Record of the Men and Women Who Came Under 
Suspicion or Accusation of Witchcraft in Con- 
necticut, and What Befell Them. 

Herein are written the names of all persons in anywise 
involved in the witchcraft delusion in Connecticut, with 
the consequences to them in indictments, trials, convic- 
tions, executions, or in banishment, exile, warnings, re- 
prieves, or acquittals, so far as made known in any tra- 
dition, document, public or private record, to this time. 

Mary Johnson. Windsor, 1647. 

There is no documentary or other evidence to show that 
Mary Johnson was executed for witchcraft in Windsor 
in 1647. The charge rests on an entry in Governor Win- 

throp's Journal, " One of Windsor arraigned and 

executed at Hartford for a witch." Winthrop's History 
of New England (Savage, 2:374). 

No importance would have attached to this statement, 
which bears no date and does not give the name or sex 
of the condemned, had not Dr. Savage in his annotations 
of the Journal (2 : 374) asserted that it was " the first in- 
stance of the delusion in New England," and without 
warrant added, "Perhaps there was sense enough early 
in the colony to destroy the record." 

In all discussions of this matter, it has been assumed 
or conceded (in the absence of any positive proof), by such 
eminent critics and scholars as Drake, Fiske, Poole, Hoad- 
ley, Stiles, and others, that Winthrop's note was based on 
rumor or hearsay, or that it related to the later conviction 
and execution of a woman of the same name, next noted, 



144 The Witchcraft Delusion 

and the errors as to person, time, and place might easily 
have been made. 

/Mary Johnson. Wethersfield, 1648. 

This Mary Johnson left a definite record. It is written 
in broad lines in the dry-as-dust chronicles of the time. 
Cotton Mather embalmed the tragedy in his Magnolia. 

" There was one Mary Johnson tryd at Hartford in this 
countrey, upon an indictment of 'familiarity with the 
devil/ and was found guilty thereof, chiefly upon her own 
confession." 

"And she dyd in a frame extreamly to the satisfaction 
of them that were spectators of it." Magnolia Christi 
Americana (6:7). 

At a session of the Particular Court held in Hartford, 
August 21, 1646, Mary Johnson for thievery was sentenced 
to be presently whipped, and to be brought forth a month 
hence at Wethersfield, and there whipped. The whipping 
post, even in those days, did not prove a means to repent- 
ance and reformation, since at a session of the same 
court, December 7, 1648, the jury found a bill of indict- 
ment against Mary Johnson, that by her own confession 
she was guilty of familiarity with the devil. 

That she was condemned and executed seems certain 
(it being assumed that Mary and Elizabeth Johnson were 
one and the same person, both Christian names appearing 
in the record), since at a session of the General Court, 
May 21, 1650, the prison-keeper's charges for her imprison- 
ment were allowed and ordered paid " out of her estate." 

A pathetic incident attaches to this case. A child to 
this poor woman was "borne in the prison," who was 



In Colonial Connecticut 145 

bound out until he became twenty-one years of age, to 
Nathaniel Rescew, to whom ,£15 were paid according to 
the mother's promise to him, he having engaged himself 
"to meinteine and well educate her sonne." Colonial 
Records of Connecticut (I, 143: 171: 209-22-26-32). 

The First Execution for Witchcraft in New 
England 

A secret long kept made known — Winthrop's journal entry 
probably correct — Tradition and surmise make place for 
historical certainty — The evidence of an eyewitness — A 
notable service. 

^Alse Young. Windsor, 1647. 

"May 26. 47 Alse Young was hanged." Matthew 
Grant's Diary. 

"The first entry (the executions of Carrington and his 
wife being next mentioned) supplies the name of the ' One 
(blank) of Windsor arraigned and executed at Hartford 
for a witch' — the first known execution for witchcraft in 
New England. I have found no mention elsewhere of this 
Alse Young." J. Hammond Trumbull's Observation on 
Grant's Entry. 

" Who then was the ' witch ' with whose execution Con- 
necticut stepped into the dark shadow of persecution ? 
She has been called Mary Johnson, but no Mary Johnson 
has been identified as this earliest victim. Whose is that 
pathetic figure shrinking in the twilight of that early 
record ? We could think of her with no less kindly com- 
passion could we give a name to the unhappy victim of the 
misread Word of God, who was led forth to a death 



146 The Witchcraft Delusion 

stripped of dignity as of consolation : who to an ignorance 
and credulity, brought from an old world and not yet 
sifted out by the enlightenment and experience of a new, 
yielded up her perhaps miserable but unforfeited life. 
Here is the note which in all probability establishes the 
identity of the One of Windsor arraigned and executed 
as a witch — 'May 26, 47 Alse Young was hanged.'" 
" One Blank " of Windsor (Courant Literary Section, 12, 3, 
1904), Annie Eliot Trumbull. 

Matthew Grant came over with the Dorchester men 
from the Bay Colony in 1635, and settled in Windsor, 
Connecticut, where he lived until his death there in 
1683. 

He was a land surveyor, and the town clerk, a close 
observer of men and their public and private affairs, and 
kept a careful record of current events in a " crabbed, ec- 
centric but by no means entirely illegible hand" during 
the long years of his sojourn in the " Lord's Waste." 

It has been surmised for several years — but without con- 
firmation — and credited by the highest authorities in 
Connecticut colonial history, and known only to one of 
them, that Grant's manuscript diary contained the sig- 
nificant historical note as to the fate of Alse Young. It 
waited two centuries and more for its true interpreter, 
as did Wolcott's cipher notes of Hooker's famous sermon, 
and there it is, "not made on the decorous pages which 
memorize the saints," Brookes, Hooker, Warham, Rey- 
ner, Hanf ord, and Huit, " but scrawled on the inside of 
the cover, where it might be the sinner might escape detec- 
tion." 



In Colonial Connecticut 147 

In the publication of Grant's note Miss Trumbull has 
rendered a great service in the settlement of a disputed 
question, in the correction of errors, in fixing the priority 
of the outbreak between Massachusetts and Connecticut; 
and in the new light shining through this revelation stands 
Alse, glorified with the qualities of youth, of gentleness, 
of innocence; and the story of her going to the unholy 
sacrifice on that fateful May morning more than two and 
a half centuries ago is told with exquisite tenderness and 
pathos. 

Confirmation of the truth of Grant's entry is given by 
the scholarly historian of Windsor, Dr. Stiles, who says 
in his history of that ancient town : 

u We know that a John Youngs, [ ?] bought land in Wind- 
sor of William Hubbard in 1641 — which he sold in 1649 — 
and thereafter disappears from record. He may have been 
the husband or father of 'Achsah'f?] the witch; if so, it 
would be most natural that he and his family should leave 
Windsor/' Stiles' History of Windsor (pp. 444-450). 

'John and Joan Cakrington. Wethersfield, 1651. 

They were indicted at a court held February 20, 1651, 
Governor John Haynes and Edward Hopkins being 
present, with other magistrates; and they were found 
guilty on March 6, 1651. Both were executed. Records 
Particular Court (2: 17). [Dr. Hoadley's note in this case: 
"Mr. Trumbull (Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull) told me he 
had a record of execution in these cases. I suppose he 
referred to the diary of Matthew Grant."] The entry of 
the execution appears in Grant's Diary, after the note as 
to Alse Young. One Blank of Windsor, Trumbull. 



148 The Witchcraft Delusion 

{^Lydia Gilbert. Windsor, 1654. 

October 3, 1651, Henry Stiles of Windsor was killed by 
the accidental discharge of a gun in the hands of Thomas 
Allyn, also of Windsor. An inquest was held, and Thomas 
was indicted in the following December. He plead guilty, 
and at the trial the jury found the fact to be "homicide 
by misadventure." Thomas was fined <£20 for his "sin- 
ful neglect and careless carriage," and put under a bond 
of <£10, for good behavior for a year. Records Particular 
Court (2:29-57). 

But witchcraft was abroad, and its tools and emissaries 
more than two years afterwards fastened suspicion of this 
death by clear accident, on Lydia Gilbert, it being charged 
that "thou hast of late years, or still dost give entertain- 
ment to Sathan . . . and by his helpe hast killed 
the body of Henry Styles, besides other witchcrafts." 

She was indicted and tried in September or November, 
1654, and "Ye party above mentioned is found guilty of 
witchcraft by ye jury." Her fate is not written in any 
known record, but the late Honorable S. O. Griswold, a 
recognized authority on early colonial history in Windsor, 
says that as the result of a close examination of the rec- 
ord, "I think the reasonable probability is that she was 
hanged." Records Particular Court (2:51); Stile's His- 
tory of Windsor (pp. 169, 444-450). 

/ Goody Bassett. Stratford, 1651. Executed. 

"The Gouernor, Mr. Cullick, and Mr. Clarke are de- 
sired to goe downe to Stratford to keepe courte uppon the 
tryall of Goody Bassett for her life"— May, 1651. "Be- 
cause goodwife Bassett when she was condemned" 



In Colonial Connecticut 149 

(probably on her own confession, as in the Greensmith 
case). Colonial Records of Connecticut (1:220); New 
Haven Colonial Records (2:77-88). 

Goodwife Knapp. Fairfield, 1653. Executed. 

"After goodwife Knapp was executed, as soon as she 
was cut downe." New Haven Colonial Records (1:81). 

Full account in previous chapter. 

/Elizabeth Godman. New Haven, 1655. Acquitted. 
Elizabeth was released from prison September 4, 1655, 
with a reprimand and warning by the court. New Haven 
Town Records (2:174, 179); New Haven Colonial Records 
(2:29,151). 
Account in previous chapter. 



• 



•Nicholas Bayley and Wife. New Haven, 1655. Ac- 
quitted. 

Nicholas and his wife, after several appearances in 
court on account of a suspicion of witchcraft, and for 
various other offenses — among them, lying and filthy 
speeches by the wife — were advised to remove from the 
colony. They took the advice. 

-William Meaker. New Haven, 1657. Accused ac- 
quitted. 

Thomas Mullener was always in trouble. He was a 
chronic litigant. His many contentions are noted at length 
in the court records. Among other things he made up his 
mind that his pigs were bewitched, so w he did cut of the 
tayle and eare of one and threw into the fire," " said it was 



150 The Witchcraft Delusion 

a meanes used in England by some people to finde out 
witches," and in the light of this porcine sacrifice he 
charged his neighbor William Meaker with the bewitch- 
ing. Meaker promptly brought an action of defamation, 
but Mullener became involved in other controversies and 
"miscarriages," to the degree that he was advised to re- 
move out of the place, and put under bonds for good be- 
havior; and Meaker, probably feeling himself vindicated, 
dropped his suit. New Haven Colonial Records (2: 224). 



/, 



Elizabeth Garlick. Easthampton, 1658. Acquitted. 

Records Particular Court (2: 113); Colonial Records of 
Connecticut (1: 573); Stiles' History of Windsor (p. 735). 

Account in previous chapter. 

/ 

Nicholas and Margaret Jennings. Saybrook, 1661. 

Jury disagreed. 

The major part of the jury found Nicholas guilty, but 
the rest only strongly suspected him, and as to Margaret, 
some found her guilty, and the others suspected her to 
be guilty. It is probable that the Jennings were under 
inquiry when, at a session of the General Court at Hartford, 
June 15, 1659, it was recorded that " Mr. Willis is requested 
to goe downe to Sea Brook, to assist ye Maior in exam- 
ininge the suspitions about witchery, and to act therin as 
may be requisite." Records Particular Court (2: 160-3); 
Colonial Records of Connecticut (1 : 338). 

1662-63 was a notable year in the history of witchcraft 
in Connecticut. It marked the last execution for the crime 
within the commonwealth, and thirty years before the 
outbreak at Salem. 



In Colonial Connecticut 151 

^Nathaniel Greensmith and Rebecca his Wife. Hart- 
ford, 1662. Both executed. 
Account in previous chapter. Records Particular Court 

(2:182); Memorial History Hartford County (1:274); 

Connecticut Magazine (November 1899, pp. 557-561). 

*^Mary Sanford. Hartford, 1662. Convicted June 13, 
1662. Executed. 

Records Particular Court (2 : 174-175) ; Hoadley's Rec- 
ord Witchcraft Trials. 

^Andrew Sanford. Hartford, 1662. No indictment. 
Records Particular Court (2: 174-175); Hoadley's Rec- 
ord Witchcraft Trials. 

\/ Judith Varlett (Varleth). Hartford, 1662. Arrested; 

released. 

It will be recalled that Rebecca Greensmith in her con- 
fession, among other things, said that Mrs. Judith Var- 
lett told her that she (Varlett) "was much troubled wth 
ye Marshall Jonath: Gilbert & cried, & she sayd if it lay 
in her power she would doe him a mischief, or what hurt 
shee could." 

Judith must have indulged in other indiscretions of 
association or of speech, since she soon fell under sus- 
picion of witchcraft, and was put under arrest and im- 
prisoned. But she had a powerful friend at court (who, 
despite his many contentions and intrigues, commanded 
the attention of the Connecticut authorities), in the per- 
son of her brother-in-law Peter Stuyvesant, then bearing 
the title and office of " Captain General and Commander- 



152 The Witchcraft Delusion 

in-Chief of Amsterdam In New Netherland, now called 
New York, and the Dutch West India Islands." It was 
doubtless due to his intercession in a letter of October 13, 
1662, that she was released. 

The letter: 

"To the Honorable Deputy Governour & Court of 
" Magistracy att Harafort. (Oct. 1662) 
" Honoured and Worthy Srs. — 

"By this occasion of me Brother in Lawe (beinge ne- 
cessitated to make a Second Voyage for ayde his distressed 
sister Judith Varleth jmprisoned as we are jmformed, 
uppon pretend accusation of wicherye we Realy Beleeve 
and out her wel known education Life Conversation & 
profession of faith, wee dear assure that shee is jnnocent 
of Such a horrible Crimen, & wherefor j doubt not hee 
will now, as formerly finde jour dhonnours favour and 
ayde for the jnnocent). Ye Ld Stephesons Letter (C. B. 2: 
doc. 1). 

w Mary Barnes. Farmington, 1662. Convicted January 6. 
Probably executed. 
Records Particular Court (2: 184). 

V William Ayres and Goody Ayres his Wife. Hartford, 
1662. Arrested. Fled from the colony. 

Y Elizabeth Seager. Hartford, 1662. Convicted; dis- 
charged. 

Goody Seager probably deserved all that came to her 
in trials and punishment. She was one of the typical 
characters in the early communities upon whom distrust 



In Colonial Connecticut 153 

and dislike and suspicion inevitably fell. Exercising witch 
powers was one of her more reputable qualities. She was 
indicted for blasphemy, adultery, and witchcraft at various 
times, was convicted of adultery, and found guilty of 
witchcraft in June, 1665. She owed her escape from hang- 
ing to a finding of the Court of Assistants that the jury's 
verdict did not legally answer to the indictment, and she 
was set "free from further suffering or imprisonment." 
Records County Court (3:5: 52) ; Colonial Records of 
Connecticut (2:531); Rhode Island Colonial Records 
(2:388). 

/James Walkley. Hartford, 1662. Arrested. Fled to 
Rhode Island. 

^Katherine Harrison. Wethersfield, 1669. Convicted; 

discharged. 

See account in previous chapter. Records Court of, 
Assistants (1, 1-7); Colonial Records of Connecticut (2: 118, 
132); Doc. History New York (4th ed., 4: 87). 

Nicholas Desborough. Hartford, 1683. Suspicioned. 

Desborough was a landowner in Hartford, having re- 
ceived a grant of fifty acres for his services in the Pequot 
war. He owes his enrollment in the hall of fame to Cotton 
Mather, who was so self-satisfied with his efforts in * Re- 
lating the wonders of the invisible world in preternatural 
occurrences " that in his pedantic exuberance he put in a 
learned sub-title: "Miranda cano, sed sunt credenda" 
(The themes I sing are marvelous, yet true). 

Fourteen examples were chosen for the "Thaumato- 



154 The Witchcraft Delusion 

graphia Pneumatica," as "remarkable histories" of mo- 
lestations from evil spirits, and Mather said of them, 
"that no reasonable man in this whole country ever did 
question them." 

Desborough stands in place as the "fourth example." 
No case more clearly illustrates the credulity that neu- 
tralized common sense in strong men. It was a case of 
abstraction, or theft, or mistaken thrift. A "chest of 
cloaths" was missing. The owner, instead of going to 
law, found his remedy "in things beyond the course of 
nature," and he and his friends with "nimble hands" 
pelted Desborough's house, and himself when abroad, 
with stones, turves, and corncobs, and finally some of his 
property was burned by a fire "in an unknown way 
kindled." Is it not enough to note that Mather closes this 
wondrous tale of the spiritual molestations with the very 
human explanation that " upon the restoring of the cloaths, 
the trouble ceased " ? 

Elizabeth Clawson. Fairfield, 1692. Acquitted. Ac- 
count in previous chapter. 

7 Mary and Hannah Harvey. Fairfield, 1692. Jury 
found no bill. 

'Goody Miller. Fairfield, 1692. Acquitted. 

^Iary Staplies. Fairfield, 1692. Jury found no bill. 
Account in previous chapter. 

Mercy Disborough. Fairfield, 1692. Convicted; re- 
prieved. Account in previous chapter. 



In Colonial Connecticut 155 

Hugh Crotia. Stratford, 1693. Jury found no bill. 
Account in previous chapter. C. & D. (Vol. I, 185). 

Winifred Benham Senior and Junior. Wallingford, 

1697. Acquitted. 

They were mother and daughter (twelve or thirteen 
years old), tried at Hartford and acquitted in August, 
1697; indicted on new complaints in October, 1697, but 
the jury returned on the bill, " Ignoramus." Records Court 
of Assistants (1 : 74, 77). 

f Sarah Spencer. Colchester, 1724. Accused. Damages 

Is. 

Even a certificate of the minister as to her religion and 
virtue, could not free Sarah from a reputation as a witch. 
And when Elizabeth (and how many Connecticut witches 
bore that name) Ackley accused her of " riding and pinch- 
ing," and James Ackley, her husband, made threats, 
Sarah sued them for a fortune in those days, £500 dam- 
ages, and got judgment for £5, with costs. The Ackleys 
appealed, and at the trial the jury awarded Sarah damages 
of Is., and also stated that they found the Ackleys not 
insane — a clear demonstration that the mental condition 
of witchcraft accusers was taken account of in the later 
and saner times. 

4 Norton. Bristol, 1768. Suspicioned. No record. 

"On the mountain," probably Fall mountain in Bris- 
tol, the antics of a young woman named Norton, who 
accused her aunt of putting a bridle on her and driving 
her through the air to witch meetings in Albany, caused 



156 



The Witchcraft Delusion 



a commotion among the virtuous people. Deacon Dut- 
ton's ox was torn apart by an invisible agent, and unseen 
hands brought new ailments to the residents there, pinched 
them and stuck red hot pins into them. Elder Wildman 
set out to exorcise the evil spirit, but became so terrorized 
that he called for help, and one of his posse of assistants 
was scared into convulsions. This case may be counted 
among the last, perhaps the last traditions of the strange 
delusion which aforetime filled the hills and valleys of 
Quohnectacut with its baleful light. Memorial History 
Hartford County (2: 51). 

ROLL OF NAMES 



Alse Young . 










. 1647 


. Mary Johnson 










. 1648 


John Carrington 










, 1650-51 


Joan Carrington . 










. 1650-71 


Goody Bassett 










. 1651 


Goodwife Knapp . 










. 1653 


Lydia Gilbert 










1654 


Elizabeth Godman 










1655 


Nicholas Bayly 










1655 


Goodwife Bayly . 










1655 


William Meaker . 










1657 


Elizabeth Garlick 










1658 


Nicholas Jennings 










1661 


Margaret Jennings 










1661 


Nathaniel Greensmith 










1662 


Rebecca Greensmith . 










1662 


Mary Sanford 










1662 



In Colonial Connecticut 157 

/* Andrew Sanford 1662 

Goody Ayres 1662 

Katherine Palmer 1662 

A Judith Varlett . . . . . . 1662 

James Walkley 1662 

: Mary Barnes 1662-63 

Elizabeth Seager 1666 

Katherine Harrison 1669 

k Nicholas Disborough . . . . . 1683 

Mary Staplies 1692 

Mercy Disborough 1692 

Elizabeth Clawson 1692 

Mary Harvey 1692 

Hannah Harvey . . . . . 1692 

Goody Miller 1692 

A Hugh Crotia 1693 

Winifred Benham, Senr 1697 

Winifred Benham, Junr 1697 

Sarah Spencer 1724 

* Norton 1768 

What of those men and women to whom justice in their 
time was meted out, in this age of reason, of religious en- 
lightenment, liberty, and catholicity, when witchcraft has 
lost its mystery and power, when intelligence reigns, and 
the Devil works his will in other devious ways and in a 
more attractive guise ? 

They were the victims of delusion, not of dishonor, of 
a perverted theology fed by moral aberrations, of a fa- 
naticism which never stopped to reason, and halted at no 
sacrifice to do God's service; and they were all done to 



158 The Witchcraft Delusion 

death, or harried into exile, disgrace, or social ostracism, 
through a mistaken sense of religious duty: but they stand 
innocent of deep offense and only guilty in the eye of the 
law written in the Word of God, as interpreted and en- 
forced by the forefathers who wrought their condemna- 
tion, and whose religion made witchcraft a heinous sin, 
and whose law made it a heinous crime. 

Is the contrast in human experience, between the ser- 
vitude to credulity and superstition in 1647-97 and the 
deliverance from it of this day, any wider than between 
the ironclad theology of that and of later times, and the 
challenge to it, and its diabolical logic, of yesterday, which 
marks a new era in denominational creeds, in religious 
beliefs, and their expression ? 

Jonathan Edwards, in his famous sermon at Enfield 
in 1741, on "Sinners in the hands of an Angry God," 
was inspired to say to the impenitent: "The God that 
holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider 
or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you and is 
dreadfully provoked; His wrath toward you burns like 
fire; He looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to 
be cast into the fire; He is of purer eyes than to bear to 
have you in His sight; you are 10,000 times so abominable 
in His eyes as the most hateful and venomous serpent is 
in ours. . . . Instead of one how many is it likely 
will remember this discourse in hell ! And it would be a 
wonder if some that are now present should not be in hell 
in a very short time — before this year is out. And it 
would be no wonder if some persons, that now sit here in 
some seats of this meeting-house, in health and quiet, and 
secure, should be there before to-morrow morning." 



In Colonial Connecticut 159 

One hundred and sixty-three years later, Rev. Dr. Samuel 
T. Carter, a godly minister of the same faith, " a heretic 
who is no heretic," stood before the presbytery of Nassau, 
was invited to remain in the Presbyterian communion, 
and yet said this of the doctrine of Edwards, as written in 
the Westminster Confession: " In God's name and Christ's 
name it is not true. There is no such God as the God of 
the confession. There is no such world as the world of the 
confession. There is no such eternity as the eternity of 
the confession. . . . This world so full of flowers and 
sunshine and the laughter of children is not a cursed lost 
world, and the ' endless torment ' of the confession is not 
God's, nor Christ's, nor the Bible's idea of future punish- 
ment." 

What should constitute the true faith of a Christian, and 
set him apart from his fellowmen in duties and observ- 
ances, was one of the crucial questions in the everyday 
life of the early New England colonists, and the hanging 
and discipline of witches was one of its necessary inci- 
dents. 

It was the same spirit of intolerance and of religious 
animosity that was written in the treatment of the Quakers 
and Baptists at Boston; in the experience of Roger Wil- 
liams and Anne Hutchinson; and of "The Rogerenes" 
in Connecticut, for "profanation of the Sabbath," told 
in a chapter of forgotten history. 

In the sunlight of the later revelation, is not the present 
judgment of the men and women of those far off times, 
"when the wheel of prayer was in perpetual motion," 
when fear and superstition and the wrath of an angry God 
ruled the strongest minds, truly interpreted in the solemn 



J 



160 The Witchcraft Delusion 

afterthoughts which the poet ascribes to the magistrate 
and minister at the grave of Giles Corey ? 

Hathorne 
"This is the Potter's Field. Behold the fate 
Of those who deal in witchcrafts, and when ques- 
tioned, 
Refuse to plead their guilt or innocence, 
And stubbornly drag death upon themselves. 



Mather 
" Those who lie buried in the Potter's Field 
Will rise again as surely as ourselves 
That sleep in honored graves with epitaphs; 
And this poor man whom we have made a victim, 
Hereafter will be counted as a martyr." 

The New England Tragedies. 



HISTORICAL NOTE 

Roger Ludlow 

The Connecticut historians to a very recent date, in 
ignorance of the facts, and despite his notable services of 
twenty-four years to^he colonies^ left Ludlow to die in 
obscurity in Virginia or elsewhere, and some of the tra- 
ditions, based on no record or other evidence, have been 
recently repeated. It is therefore proper to state here in 
few words who Ludlow was, what he did both in Massachu- 
setts and Connecticut, and after his " return into England " 
in 1654. 

Ludlow came of an ancient English family, which gave 
to history in his own time and generation such illustrious 
kinsmen as Sir Henry Ludlow, a member of the Long 
Parliament and one of the Puritan leaders, and Sir Ed- 
mund Ludlow, member of Parliament, Lieutenant- 
General under Cromwell, member of the court at King 
Charles' trial, and whom Macaulay named "the most 
illustrious saviour of a mighty race of men, the judges of 
a king, the founders of a republic." 

In May, 1630, Ludlow came to Massachusetts, as one 
of the Assistants under the charter of " The Governor and 
company of Massachusetts Bay in New England." 

His services in the Bay Colony from 1630-35 ranged 
from the duties of a magistrate in the Great Charter Court 
to those of the high office of Deputy Governor. The 



162 The Witchcraft Delusion 

quality of that service is written in a bare statement of 
his various offices — surveyor, negotiator of the Pequot 
treaty, colonel ex officio, auditor of Governor Winthrop's 
accounts, superintendent of fortifications, military com- 
missioner, member of the General Court, Deputy Governor 
when Thomas Dudley was Governor; and he was always 
one of the foremost men in civil, political, and social 
affairs, to the day of his departure to "the valley of the 
long river," — a day of good fortune for Connecticut. 

When Massachusetts established church membership 
as the condition of suffrage, — and radical differences of 
opinion on other matters arose, — it marked the culmina- 
tion of a set purpose of some of her ablest men to remove 
from her jurisdiction, among whom Hooker, Ludlow, and 
Haynes were the most notable. The General Court 
created a commission to govern Connecticut for a year, 
and made Ludlow its chief. He came to the new land of 
promise with the Dorchester men, and settled in Windsor 
in 1635-36. 

What he did in the nineteen years of his residence at 
Windsor and Fairfield is epitomized in a brief summary 
of the duties and honors to which he was called by his 
f ellowmen : 

Chief of the Massachusetts commission and the first 
Governor, de facto; organizer and chief magistrate of the 
first court; writer of the earliest laws; president of the court 
which declared war against the Pequots; framer of the 
Fundamental Orders — the Constitution of 1639 — which 
embodied the great principles of government by the 
people propounded and elucidated by the illustrious 
Thomas Hooker, in his letter to Governor Winthrop, and 



In Colonial Connecticut 163 

in his famous sermon; compiler, at the request of the Gen- 
eral Court, of the Body of Lawes, the Code of 1650; com- 
missioner on important state matters; commissioner for 
the United Colonies; founder and defender of Fairfield; 
patriot, jurist, statesman. 

Ludlow left Connecticut in 1654, not to die in ob- 
scurity as the earlier writers imagined, but to serve abroad 
for several years in positions of honor and distinction. 

Cromwell invited him to return, as he did many of the 
leading Puritans in New England, and appointed him a 
commissioner for the administration of justice in Dublin; 
also to serve with the chief justice of the upper bench and 
other distinguished lawyers, to determine all the claims 
to the forfeited Irish lands, and at last as a Master in 
Chancery. 

Ten years Ludlow served in these important stations; 
and at his death, probably in 1664, he was buried in 
St. Michael's churchyard in Dublin, with his wife — a 
sister of Governor John Endicott — and other members 
of his family.* 

* Roger Ludlow — The Colonial Lawmaker — Taylor. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

Some of the authorities and records in witchcraft 
literature consulted in the writing of this essay are here 
cited for reference and information: 

Connecticut Archives: Wyllys Papers, Original Witch- 
craft Depositions; Records: General Court, Particular 
Court, Court of Assistants, County Court, Colonial Bounda- 
ries, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Connecticut Colonial, 
New Haven Colonial, Hartford Probate, New Haven 
Town; Magnolia Christi Americana (Mather) ; Matthew 
Grant's Diary (Trumbull's Observations) Courant 
Literary Section, 12-3-1904; Hoadley's Witchcraft Trials 
and Notes (Manuscript); Winthrop's History of New 
England; Stiles' History of Windsor; Blue Laws, True 
and False (Trumbull) ; Perkins' Discourse; The Litera- 
ture of Witchcraft (Burr); Hammurabi's Code; Cent. 
Mag., June, 1903; Blackstone's Commentaries; A Tale 
of the Witches (Stone) ; Lecky's Rationalism in Europe; 
The Witch Persecutions (Burr) ; Encyc. Articles (" Witch- 
craft"): Britannica, Americana, International, Chambers 9 , 
Johnson's; Connecticut: Origin of her Courts and Laws 
(Hamersley); Barber's Connecticut Historical Collec- 
tions; Schenck's Fairfield; Connecticut as a Colony and 
State (Morgan et al.); The House of the Seven Gables 
(Hawthorne); Latimer's Salem; Johnston's Nathan 
Hale; Connecticut History (Trumbull); Upham's Salem 



166 The Witchcraft Delusion 

Witchcraft; Conn, Mag., Nov., 1899; Dalton's Justice; 
Mem. Hist, of Boston; Mem. Hist, of Hartford County; 
Palfrey's New England; Historic Towns of New 
England (Latimer); Giles Corey of the Salem Farms 
(Longfellow) ; New France and New England (Fiske) ; 
Scott's Demonology and Witchcraft; Lowell's "Witch- 
craft" {Among My Books); Whitmore's Colonial Laws; 
Drake's Witchcraft Delusion in New England; Fow- 
ler's Salem Witchcraft; Hutchinson's Hist, of Massa- 
chusetts Bay; Larned's Hist, of Ready Reference 
(Mass.); Howe's Puritan Republic; Goodwin's Pilgrim 
Republic; Merejkowski's Romance of Leonardo da 
Vinci; Bulwer's Last Days of Pompeii; Weyman's The 
Long Night; Crockett's The Black Douglas; Lea's 
Hist, of the Inquisition; Scarlet Letter (Hawthorne); A 
Case of Witchcraft in Connecticut (Hoadley); Witches in 
Connecticut (Bliss) ; Historical Discourses (Bacon) ; His- 
tory of Wethers field (Stiles); History of Long Island 
(Thompson), Witchcraft in Boston (Poole); Literature of 
Witchcraft in New England (Winsor); Witchcraft and 
Second Sight in the Scottish Highlands (Campbell); 
Witch-hunter in the Bookshops (Burr); Epidemic De- 
lusions (Carpenter); History of New England (Neal); 
History of Colonization of U. S. (Bancroft); Salem 
Witchcraft (Fowler) ; Bouvier's Law Die.; Witchcraft in 
Connecticut (Livermore); Witchcraft in Salem Village, 
1692 (Nevins); History of Stratford and Bridgeport (Or- 
cutt); Bench and Bar (Adams); Conway's Demonology 
and Devil-lore; Domestic and Social Life in Colonial 
Times (Warner); Nat. Mag. Nov. 15, 1891. 



INDEX 



INDEX 



Allyn, John 44, 51-56, 65-67, 71, 
84, 106, 109, 110, 117 
Allyn, Thomas 148 

Ashley, Jonathan 117 

Austen, Thomas 103 

Ayres, Goody 152, 157 

Ayres, William 152 



Brandish, Bethia 134 

Bryan, Ensign 126, 129 

Bulkeley, Rev. Gershom 57 

Bull, Joseph 117 

Burr, Abigail 43 

Burr, John 110, 119 

Burr, Sarah 43 

Buxstum, Clement 113 



B 

Baldwin, Goodwife 133, 137 

Ball, Allen 94 

Bankes, John 126 

Barlow, Goodwife 135 

Barlow, John 65 

Barnard, Bartholomew 117 

Barnes, Mary 152, 157 

Bassett, Goody 130, 148,156 

Bates, Sarah 104 

Bayley, Goodwife 149, 156 

Bayley, Nicholas 149, 156 

Belden, Samuel 51 

Bell, Jonathan 44, 105-107, 110, 

113 
Benham, Winifred, Jr. and Sr. 

155 157 
Benit, Elizabeth 67, 70 

Benit, Thomas 67, 71 

Benit, Thomas, Jr. 70 

Birdsall, Goody 120 

Bishop, Bridgett ix 

Bishop, Ebenezer 108 

Bishop, Edward ix 

Bowman, Nathanael 117 

Bracy, Thomas 49 

Branch, Catherine 65, 103-104, 

108-116 
Brewster, Elizabeth 131 

Brewster, Mary 132 



Carrington, Joan 38, 145, 147, 156 
Carrington, John viii, 38, 145, 147, 

156 
Carter, Dr. Samuel T. 159 

Chester, Stephen 117 

Clarke, Mr. 38, 148 

Clarke, Henry 50, 52, 53 

Clarke, William 51 

Clawson, Elizabeth 44, 63, 101- 
116, 154, 157 
Clawson, Stephen 101 

Cole, Ann 97 

Collins, Samuel 117 

Comstock, Christopher 133 

Corey, Giles 15, 27 

Corwin, George ix 

Corwin, Jonathan 27 

Cross, Abigail 104 

Cross, Nathanael 104 

Crotia, Hugh viii, 117-119, 155, 157 
Cullick, Mr. 38, 56, 148 



D 

Davenport, Rev. John 85, 122, 
125-128 
Davis, Goody 120 

Desborough, Nicholas 153, 157 
Dickinson, Joseph 50 



170 



Index 



Disborough, Mercy 15, 44, 62- 

78, 154, 157 

Disborough, Thomas 63, 65 

Duning, Benjamin 65 

E 



H 

Hale, Mary 54 

Hallibereh, Thomas 66 

Hand, Goody 121 

Harrison, Katherine 47-61, 153, 

157 







Hart, Stephen 

Harvey, Hannah 115 


38.81 


Eaton, Theophilus 


85, 125 


, 154 


157 


Edwards, Goody 


120 


Harvey, Mary 


154 


157 


Edwards, Jonathan 


158 


Hathorne, John 




27 


Eliot, Joseph 


76,78 


Haynes, John 38, 97, 98, 


147 






Heyden, Daniel 




117 


F 




Hollister, Mr. 




38 




Holly, Samuel 




109 


Finch, Abraham 
Fowler, William 
Francis, Joane 
Fyler, Walt. 


107 

125, 138 

53 

85 


Hooker, Thomas 
Hopkins, Edward 
Hopkins, Matthew 
Howard, Abigail 
Howell, Goodwife 
Hubbard, Elizabeth 


38, 


162 

147 

21 

43 

119 

ix 


G 




Hull, Rebecca 
Hull, Cornelius 




133 
133 


Gardiner, Lion 


119 








Garlick, Elizabeth 119- 21, 150, 










156 


J 






Garlick, Joshua 


119 








Garney, Joseph 


101 


Jennings, Margaret 


150, 


156 


Garrett, Daniel 


80 


Jennings, Nicholas 
Jesop, Edward 


150, 


156 


Garrett, Margaret 


80 




63 


Gedney, Bartholomew 


27 


Joanes, William 




117 


Gibbons, William 


117 


Johnson, Jacob 




53 


Gilbert, Lydia 


148, 156 


Johnson, Mary 35, 143 


144, 


156 


Gillett, Cornelius 


117 


Jones, Martha 




35 


Godfree, Ann 


70 


Jones, William 




40 


Godman, Elizabeth 85-96, 149, 


Judd, Theo. 




38 


Gold, Nathan 


110, 119 








Goodyear, Stephen 85-89, 92, 93 


K 






Gould, Goodwife 


139 








Grant, Matthew 


146-147 


Kecham, Sarah 




103 


Graves, John 


52 


Kelsey, Stephen 




117 


Greensmith, Nathaniel 


96-100, 


Knapp, Goodwife 109, 


122- 


141, 




151, 156 




156, 


176 


Greensmith, Rebecca 


96-100, 
151, 156 








Grey, Henry 
Griswold, Edward 


68, 69, 70 


L 






38 








Griswold, Michael 


59 


Lamberton, Desire 




93 


Grummon, John 


70 


Lamberton, Elizabeth 


86 


,90 



Index 



171 



Lamberton, Hannah 
Langton, Joseph 
Leawis, Will. 
Leete, William 
Lewis, Mercy 
Lockwood, Deborah 
Lockwood, Robert 
Lockwood, Susan 124, 

Loomis, Jonathan 
Loomis, Nathanael 
Ludlow, Roger 123, 125- 

Lyon, Thomas 



86,90 

117 

38 

47, 125 

ix 

133 

132 

131, 132, 

136, 138 

117 

117 

129, 161- 

163 

136, 138 



Phelps 


, Mr. 




38 


Pitkin 


William 


78, 


117 


Pratt, 


Daniel 




81 


Pratt, 


John 




38 


Purdy 


Good wife 


124, 


135 


Putnam, Ann 


ix, 30 




R 






Renels 


, John 




141 


Richai 


ds, John 




27 


Russel 


, William 




120 



M 

Mansfield, Moses 
Marsh, John 
Mason, John 
Mather, Cotton 
Meaker, William 
Migat, Mrs. 
Miller, Goody 
Milton, Daniel 
More, John 
Montague, Richard 
Mullener, Thomas 
Mygatt, Joseph 

N 

Newell, Samuel 
Newton, Thomas 
North, Joseph 
Norton 

O 



117 

117 

47 

28-34, 153 

149, 156 

82 

154, 157 

38 

38 

51 

149 

117 



117 

27 

117 

155, 157 



Odell, Goodwife 124, 131, 135 



Palmer, Katherine 157 

Pantry, John 117 

Pell, Luce 124,130,135,138 

Penoir, Lydia 112 

Phelps, Abraham 117 



Saltonstall, Nathl. 27 

Sanford, Andrew 151, 157 

Sanford, Mary 151, 156 

Seager, Elizabeth 80-85, 152, 157 
Selleck, David 108, 114 

Selleck, Jonathan 106, 107, 110, 

116 
Sergeant, Peter 27 

Sewall, Samuel 27 

Sherrington, Thomas 133, 138 
Sherwood, Isaac 64 

Sherwood, Mistress Thomas 

124, 128, 135, 139 
Slawson, Elezer 113 

Smith, Elizabeth 56 



Smith, Philip 
Smith, Samuel 
Spencer, Sarah 
Stanly, Caleb 
Stanly, Nath. 
Staplies, Mary 
Staplies, Thomas 
Steele, James 
Sterne, Robert 
Stiles, Henry 
Stirg, Joseph 
Stoughton, John 
Stoughton, William 



Tailecote, Mr. 
Tash, John 



51 

38, 50, 52, 53, 66 

155, 157 

117 

78, 117 

125-141, 154, 157 

125, 126 

117 

81,84 

148 

66 

117 

27, ix 



38 
140, 141 



172 



Index 



Tompson, J. 129, 135 

Treat, Robert 48, 62, 117 

Trumbull, J. Hammond v 



Varlett, Judith 


151, 


157 


W 






Wadsworth, Joseph 




117 


Wakely, James 




50 


Wakeman, Sarah 




43 


Walcott, Mary 




ix 


Walkley, James 


153, 


157 


Ward, Andrew 




134 


Ward, Hester 


129, 


136 


Ward, Thomas 




117 


Webster, Mr. 




38 


Wells, Mr. 


38, 


129 



Wells, Hugh 


49 


Wescot, Abigail 


106, 112 


Wescot, Daniel 


101-116 


White, John 


38 


Whiting, Rev. John 


96, 97 


Whitlock, Goodwife 


134 


Wiat, Nath. 


102 


Willard, Josiah 


81 


Williams, Abigail 


ix 


Williams, William 


117 


Willis, Samuel 


78, 117 


Wilson, Hannah 


43 


Wilton, David 


51 


Winthrop, John 


35, 47, 143 


Winthrop, Wait 


27 


Woodbridge, Rev. Timothy 76, 78 
Woolcott, Mr. 38 


Y 




Young, Alse 35, 


145-147, 156 



151 82 *4 



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